The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is seeking a High Court ruling that it does not need planning permission to hold pop concerts at its Lansdowne Road grounds.
Yesterday's application follows last summer's row over holding two U2 concerts at Lansdowne Road. Dublin Corporation says planning permission is needed for concerts at the grounds.
In June 1997, the corporation issued a warning notice that the U2 concerts could not go ahead without planning permission. After a number of local people objected to the concerts, the dispute went to the High Court which decided the two concerts could not go ahead without planning permission.
The matter then went to the Supreme Court which ruled the concerts could take place as planned, on a once-off basis. The concerts were staged on August 30th and 31st last year.
Yesterday the IRFU trustees opened judicial review proceedings related to the staging of pop concerts at Lansdowne Road. The proceedings are against Dublin Corporation and are being heard by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Morris.
Mr Colm Allen SC, for the trustees, said his clients were seeking to quash the corporation's decision of June 30th last to issue a notice warning that the holding of the U2 concert in August 1997 constituted an unauthorised use of Lansdowne Road.
Mr Allen submitted that the intended staging of pop concerts at Lansdowne Road was not an unauthorised use of the stadium and, in those circumstances, Dublin Corporation had no authority to issue the warning notice.
He said the question of whether staging a pop concert represents a material change in the use of the lands was primarily a question of law. He submitted that the corporation had no jurisdiction to determine if any particular activity involved development.
He asked for a declaration that staging pop concerts at Lansdowne Road did not represent a "material change of use" under planning legislation requiring planning permission. He submitted that it was, rather, a continuance of the authorised use of the lands. Alternatively, the court should declare it was an occasional use of the lands and that the continued use of Lansdowne Road for pop concerts was immune from enforcement proceedings under the Planning Acts because of the passage of time.
Mr Allen is also seeking declarations that the erection of a temporary stage does not constitute development within the terms of the planning acts or, alternatively, that the erection of a temporary stage constitutes exempted development.
Counsel said the IRFU had operated Lansdowne Road as a national stadium for more than a century. Apart from holding up to 50 rugby matches per season, the stadium played host to a large number of other leisure and entertainment events annually, he said.
Counsel said this was the first case where the application of planning laws to pop concerts was fully before the High Court. The issue had been considered indirectly on two previous occasions, including a case about holding concerts at Slane Castle. But the decisions in those two cases were based in part on concessions by the applicants that pop concerts constituted development.
His clients made no such concessions, Mr Allen said.
He was inviting the High Court to consider the very applicability of planning legislation to transient events such as pop concerts.
Dublin Corporation denies its warning notice regarding the U2 concerts was null and void on the grounds alleged. It asserts that the use of Lansdowne Road for pop concerts is not part of the normal use of the grounds but is an exceptional and unauthorised use which constitutes development within the meaning of the Planning Acts.