Businessman Garrett Kelleher has finally won his long includes a 180-bedroom hotel and 90,000 sq. ft of retail space which will be linked into the proposed Carlton shopping and leisure centre on O'Connell Street.

The lengthy hold-up followed an objection by a company owned by John Ronan and Richard Barrett of Treasury Holdings. The same pair have objected to the Carlton scheme. While all this wrangling was going on, Dublin Corporation issued compulsory orders on a number of premises controlled by the Treasury boys to allow a more comprehensive redevelopment of the area. The CPOs have since been withdrawn because of a technical error but, apparently, are to be reissued in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Kelleher's company, Shelbourne Developments, is involved in negotiations with a number of international hotel chains, including Holiday Inn, to operate the four or five-star hotel. It will be the first major scheme by the young Dublin developer who has a successful decorating business in the US.

The Carlton and Kelleher schemes are to be given priority treatment by the Corporation in the hope that they will come on stream at the start of the new Millennium. Kelleher's site is one of last remaining large tract of land lying idle in Dublin 1.