The Royal Dublin Society wants to build on more of its lucrative land.  Members fear it's the beginning of the end. Rosita Boland reports.

It's probably better that the Royal Dublin Society is almost universally known by its initials. Historic though the RDS is, modern Ireland doesn't greatly care to be reminded that one of the capital's most prominent organisations has the word "royal" at the beginning of its name. Some of its members might even claim it is acting rather regally in proposing to develop part of its 42-acre site - which, because it is in the middle of Ballsbridge, Dublin's most expensive residential area, is probably worth about €200 million.

They claim the society hasn't been open enough about its plans and that the proposals leave them at the top of a slippery slope: go ahead with this development and there's no guarantee that any of the society's green spaces will be around for much longer.

There is also the issue of ownership: the RDS, which was founded in 1731 to promote and develop arts, science, agriculture and industry, theoretically belongs to its 5,645 members, who pay annual fees of between €65 and €275, depending on whether they live locally, outside Dublin or overseas.

About 70 per cent of the members are based in Dublin, with 20 per cent elsewhere in Ireland and 10 per cent overseas. But the society's complex history means they would not benefit personally if their society sold all or part of its land: being a member of the RDS is not the same as being a shareholder.

In June the RDS lodged plans with Dublin City Council for a €100 million development over 10 years. The proposal includes extensive renovation of the Anglesea Stand, new office blocks on both sides of Simmonscourt Road and two new multipurpose halls that could function equally well as stables or as business venues. The proposed area of development covers five acres, a significant element of which will be relatively high; the office buildings will have between four and six storeys.

Shane Cleary, chief executive of the RDS, is nothing but positive about the proposed development. "It's very, very expensive to be in Dublin 4. If the RDS is going to ensure it's going to stay here it has to have money to support itself."

Last year the RDS's income was €9.5 million. It spent €8.2 million, leaving it with a surplus of €1.3 million.

Cleary says the considerable profits from development will go back into the running of the RDS and towards establishing new elements in its foundation programme. (The RDS organises the Irish Forestry Awards, the Taylor Arts Awards, the RDS Industry Gold Medals, the RDS National Crafts Competition and, with The Irish Times, the Boyle Medal for Science.)

"I'd like to see the RDS having significant money to do something for the modern problems of deprivation, such as the drugs problem and the poverty problem. Also, the RDS used to be involved in medical research, which we can't afford at the moment."

The development proposals were discussed over time, then voted on by the RDS members elected to serve on the council of the society. Cleary is adamant that all members were kept informed, whether through newsletters and the RDS's annual reports, which are sent to each member, or the society's biennial "stated general meeting", which all members are entitled to attend.

Colm Mac Eochaidh, the barrister and Fine Gael candidate in last year's general election, represents Friends of the RDS, a new organisation that opposes the development. (Another opponent is An Taisce, the environmental lobby group with whose chairman, Michael Smith, Mac Eochaidh campaigned against planning corruption.)

He describes the group as a loose gathering of people who have a variety of reasons for objecting to the development. "The RDS and lands are part of a green space. Every bit of that land is under threat of development, as it is so valuable. We want it to be there for generations to come. And what's to stop them developing more land down the line?"

Friends of the RDS believes the dissemination of information to RDS members was too low-key for such high-profile news. "If you were to do a poll of ordinary RDS members, they would say they didn't know anything about it until too late," says Mac Eochaidh.

RDS members contacted by The Irish Times were unwilling to go on the record, saying they didn't want to be identified as nuisance-makers, but they did say they first learned about the development through the media. "What I object to is that the RDS is trying to become a property-development company and far too commercial, which is against the ethos of the society," says one member.

Friends of the RDS fears that the society's annual Dublin Horse Show will be significantly reduced in scale, as some of the land used for the show is included in the development plan. The RDS has already said it will review all aspects of the Horse Show within the next two months.

"As in all things there is perpetual change. The same is true of the sport-horse industry, and we are having the review very quickly to implement any changes that are deemed needed before this time next year," Cleary said after this year's Dublin Horse Show.

Chriona O'Sullivan, a member of Friends of the RDS who is based in Kilkenny, says the group intends to keep drawing attention to the proposed developments. "I'm from a farming background, and as kids we'd have been taken to the agricultural events. The RDS is a public amenity. We are afraid this development will be another huge commercial eyesore, an IFSC in the RDS."

The RDS has stressed that it does not intend to sell the land it wants to develop. But, for the public, will that make a difference once the area is built on and effectively lost for ever as green space?

The RDS's last major development venture was a 99-year lease of land to the Four Seasons Hotel. "That land was a semi-derelict site from which the RDS was getting no income whatsoever," Cleary says. "It's now producing a respectable flow of income."

Aesthically, however, the Four Seasons prompted much negative reaction, both from the public and the media. It has been described as an ugly and over-scaled eyesore, out of keeping with its period surroundings and with the scale of nearby buildings - "a monument to bad taste," as this newspaper put it. Plans for any more high buildings on the RDS site will therefore be viewed with understandable nervousness by the public.

Cleary points out that the RDS was not responsible for the plan of the Four Seasons and that the reaction to any building is "very subjective".

At the end of July, by which time 25 objections to the proposals had been lodged, Dublin City Council requested additional information, for clarification. The RDS has six months to provide it.

Should the RDS submit any new planning application in which the proposals are revised significantly - that is, require new site and press notices - there will be a second opportunity to object to the plans. Those objections could be only to possible revisions, however, not to the original plan, according to John O'Hara of Dublin City Council's planning department.

The RDS is clear that development is necessary, useful and lucrative. Perhaps the real surprise is that the site has survived relatively untouched for so long. The property boom of the past decade has transformed the RDS's 42 acres into potential fields of gold.

Members Only

No of RDS members in 2002: 5,645

Annual fee if residing in Co Dublin, Kildare, Meath or Wicklow: €275

Annual fee if residing overseas: €65

What you get: Free entry to all RDS events and to its extensive cultural programme; access five days a week to the members' club rooms, restaurant and library