A large number of the 90 appellants who are supporting developer Sean Dunne’s application for high rise development in Ballsbridge, Dublin are family friends and colleagues, Dublin City Councillor Paddy McCartan said today.
Mr Dunne is seeking permission from An Bord Pleanala for a mixed-use development including a 37-storey tower on the site of the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels. A record 126 appeals were received by a the board with an unprecedented 90 in favour of the plan.
The Fine Gael councillor, who was making a submission on behalf of FG TD Lucida Creighton, said that Mr Dunne’s supporters had a right to make appeals but they “could have been a lot more honest” about their connections with Mr Dunne.
Mr McCartan, who is the only city councillor to make an oral submission to the An Bord Pleanala hearing which started yesterday, said he and Ms Creighton had organised a public meeting to discuss the development but that supporters of Mr Dunne who attended had intimidated and threatened local people.
Mr Dunne’s legal representative, Micheál O’Connell told the hearing that Mr McCartan’s comments in relation to Mr Dunne’s supporters were “outrageous”. He said Mr McCartan had been given a platform at the hearing to represent Ms Creighton but had inappropriately used it to make a personal submission.
A statement was issued this afternoon on behalf of the applicants and Mr Dunne in response to Mr McCartan's comments this morning at the oral hearing said they were "unsubstantiated allegations" and "an abuse of the process".
"Instead of making observations on behalf of Ms Creighton TD, Cllr McCartan chose to use the occasion to also express his own views and made allegations in the course of his contribution that are completely untrue and without foundation," the statement said.
"JDPHC and BCPHC, the applicants for the proposed development, are now requesting the Inspector to have Cllr.McCartan’s observations, both oral and written, struck from the record of the hearing as they were an abuse of the process and in breach of the order of proceedings set by the Inspector and agreed by all parties."
The statement continued: "For the record, the observations are both inaccurate and untrue, and this is further confirmed by Ms Creighton, TD’s website and newsletter subsequently published after the said meeting."
"Furthermore, none of the content of the observations made by Cllr. Paddy McCartan were contained in the written observations made by Ms Creighton TD to An Bord Pleanála," the statement added.
