Community groups in Dublin's docklands and Treasury Holdings, the developers of Spencer Dock, have reached an agreement on the contentious issue of provision of social housing within the site.
The agreement comes after months of meetings and now residents and the developer hope to submit the completed deal to the planning authorities, the Dublin Docks Development Authority (DDDA) and Dublin City Council, sometime in the autumn.
The agreement also includes issues such as provision of play areas, a linear park, a bridge and a plaza for concerts, but the main controversy originally surrounded the residents' objection to the social housing, which they claimed was confined to one area and would lead to a ghetto.
Mr Gerry Fay, chairman of the North Wall Tenants Association and a member of the North Docklands Community Group, said they discussed a number of topics but the major issue was social housing.
They wanted some units to be taken out and relocated within the other sections where there was affordable housing and luxury apartments. The agreement now was that 15 social housing units would be relocated within a certain time.
Mr Fay said: "It is not remarkable at 15 but we've reached a reasonable compromise with Treasury Holdings and it establishes the principle of social housing."
He said the residents had meetings with Treasury Holdings on an on-going basis on all sorts of issues and were in full consultation with them.
Mr Kieran FitzGerald, spokesman for Treasury Holdings, said that when the Spencer Dock development started the developer and community were at loggerheads.
At the instigation of Treasury Holdings' development director, Mr Robert Ticknell, they began a process of meetings and debated all the issues.
"At the end of it all a deal has been struck between the residents and the developer. The main bone of contention with the residents was the social housing issue and we have now reached a comfortable agreement," he said.
Some of the docks were under the jurisdiction of the DDDA and others came under Dublin City Council. They had been keeping the planning authorities in- formed, he said.
The site provides for 979 luxury apartments. Social and affordable housing accounts for 21.5 per cent of the development.