Additional information has been supplied to South Dublin County Council on proposed developments around Riversdale House in Rathfarnham, the last home of the poet and senator WB Yeats. The applicant, Begley Clarke, with an address at Adelaide Court, Albert Road, Glenageary, Co Dublin, is seeking permission for 18 two-bed apartments in two two-storey blocks with attics.

The council sought information on development works including car-parking and landscaping at the house, which is a protected structure and which is being retained.

The application includes the demolition of a gate lodge and further preservation and restoration of the old arch bridge, gates and piers at the old entrance on Ballyboden Road, which are also protected.

The 17th century farmhouse which stands in its own grounds of about four acres was the subject of a planning application for demolition and replacement with a 28-unit apartment scheme last year. There is also a mews coach-house, garage, store and other outbuildings.

The proposed demolition provoked a storm of protest last year and in June the members of South Dublin County Council voted to add the house, gates and gate piers and the arched bridge to the council's list of protected structures.

A separate application was lodged last year seeking permission for courtyard-style houses on the grounds. Riversdale House itself is to be converted into office space.

Yeats took a 13-year lease on the house in 1932, living there with his wife, George, and two children, Anne and Michael. He is said to have found solace there after the death of Lady Gregory. Two of his later poems, What Then? and An Acre Of Grass are about Riversdale. It was the setting for his last meeting with Maude Gonne in the summer of 1938. A campaign against demolition was initiated by 18 leading writers and academics.