A number of residents are to seek leave from the High Court to bring a legal challenge aimed at halting the €365 million redevelopment of Lansdowne Road stadium.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly granted an application by Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company Ltd yesterday to have proceedings brought in the names of two residents admitted into the list of the Commercial Court, the High Court's commercial division.
Any delay in the project would be extremely costly and would have serious implications for rugby and soccer, company chairman and IRFU chief executive Philip Browne said. The residents are seeking leave to bring a judicial review challenge to overturn An Bord Pleanála's granting of planning permission for the redevelopment.
Brian O'Keeffe and Rosemarie Loftus, both of Lansdowne Road, want the decision granting permission for the demolition of the stadium and the construction of a multimillion-euro stadium quashed. If they secure leave, they will seek a stay on the development works pending the final determination of their challenge.
The couple claim the board failed to address the impact of the development on their property rights. In separate proceedings, Mr Justice Kelly will decide next week if a similar leave application by Kevin McMahon and Mariaelena Byrne of O'Connell Gardens, Sandymount, Dublin should be admitted to the Commercial Court list.
In addition to an order quashing the planning permission, Mr McMahon and Ms Byrne also want declarations that sections of the Planning and Development Act 2000 are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights because they fail to provide for payment or compensation to owners whose property will be devalued by the implementation of the planning permission.
Mr Justice Kelly adjourned the case to next Monday and noted the objections by several residents and residents' associations in the area to having the matter admitted to the Commercial Court list.
The court heard that the budget for the Lansdowne redevelopment is €365 million, of which the State has committed €191 million. Demolition and site clearance works began last month and the completion date for the project is the end of 2009.
In an affidavit, Mr Browne said he supported the application to have the case admitted into the commercial list of the High Court, as there is a significant commercial aspect to the proceedings.
The redevelopment was a joint venture between the IRFU and soccer's ruling body, the FAI, with the IRFU giving €95 million to the project and the FAI giving €60 million, he said. The balance of the money required would be made up from commercial sponsorship, he added.
A total of €25 million had been spent on the project to date. The redevelopment is scheduled to last 27 months and it was essential that every effort be made to complete it on budget and on time, he added.
It was envisaged that the project inflation for every month's delay is likely to be in the region of between €1.2 million to €1.5 million.
Any delay in the implementation and carrying out of the permitted development would have serious repercussions for the IRFU and FAI and the interests of rugby and soccer generally, he added.
If the development was held up, the IRFU would have no ground where it was entitled to hold international matches and there was no guarantee of renewal of the arrangement with the GAA beyond 2008.