The housing crisis means homelessness has become a reality for many students during the first few months of the college year. So there was a touch of irony when on the same day last week that the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) marched through central Dublin to highlight the issue, a group of wealthy residents in the exclusive Dartry Road area of south Dublin gathered to plot the downfall of a purpose-built, 1,000-bed student residence at Trinity Hall.

An acrimonious dispute between local residents and college authorities, with a few warning shots fired by Trinity students, has been bubbling for more than five months. It involves a planning application lodged by TCD on April 14th for a new student residence on its existing site at Trinity Hall.

The proposed £30 million development was to have included nine blocks, ranging in height from three to five stories, housing 1,004 students in 180 apartments.

However, following trenchant opposition from local residents, the plan has been caught in quagmire of planning delays.

Nearly 200 objection letters were lodged against the original planning application, many of them from among the richest and most influential figures in Dublin society who live in the suburb. These included the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Mary Freehill, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Reg Empey, and Progressive Democrat TD Des O'Malley, as well as Fine Gael TD for the area, Frances Fitzgerald.

So what is all the fuss about?

"NIMBY objections," according to Conor Power, students' union welfare officer at TCD. "The residents are more concerned with property prices than students.

"We are disappointed by the objections to the plan, especially the one by Des O'Malley on official D ail notepaper," Power says. "His objection seems in contradiction to Bobby Molloy's declared policy of dealing with the current housing crisis.

"Let's face it: 1,000 extra beds for students frees up more houses for young families."

Many of the objections concentrate on the architectural style of the proposed development, the excessive scale of the plan, the destruction of trees on the site, worsening traffic congestion and the adverse effect it would have on the balance of population in Dartry.

However, Power is particularly upset by O'Malley's contention that an influx of students could be detrimental to the character of the area.

"That's ridiculous. Look at Oxford and Cambridge - they are lovely towns, and why? Because students live there," he says. "If anything, a student population adds to the flavour of an area."

Is the union worried about taking on such a powerful group of Dublin's elite? "We've taken on powerful people before and we'll do it again," Power says.

AFTER THE FOURTH delay on the planning application, Dublin Corporation asked Trinity in September to amend its plan to make it more acceptable to local residents. The corporation outlined 10 recommendations and said the revised plan should be "subtle, more domesticated and less institutional in character".

However, the corporation's report supported the density of the proposed development and rejected local resident's objections that the development would have a negative impact on traffic congestion. It said: "In general, the principle of the development of the site for the proposed use is considered acceptable."

Trinity agreed to revise the plans and lodged a new planning application on September 14th. The director of buildings at TCD, Tim Cooper, said he hoped the new plans would meet the concerns of local residents; however, his main concern, he added, was to provide accommodation for students considering the desperate shortage of accommodation.

Under the revised proposals, the number of student beds planned at the site decreased from just over 1,000 to about 946 and the number of apartment blocks was cut from nine to three - though the central block was raised to seven storeys - with a greater number of trees maintained on the site.

Dublin Corporation is now due to make its decision on November 15th, and all the signs are that it will grant permission. However, the residents are determined to bring it to appeal and prevent developers from starting work.

Last Wednesday evening at St Peter's Church, the Dartry District Residents Association gathered to discuss their next move to thwart the planned student residence. According to the association's planner, John Scannells, the meeting was well attended; Frances Fitzgerald, Green Party TD John Gormley and Green Party city councillor Eamon Ryan were in the crowd, he said.

Scannells says the revised plan fails to meet the concerns of residents because of its excessive scale: a 600 per cent increase in student numbers would alter the character of the area. It also fails to acknowledge, he adds, the archaeological or heritage value of the site, which includes listed buildings.

So it seems inevitable that round two will be fought out at An Bord Pleanala. If that happens students are unlikely to move into any new site until at least September 2001 - and that's if they win.