Sir, - As residents of Ballsbridge we would like an opportunity to respond to letters concerning the Four Seasons Hotel. Desmond Bennett (March 7th) asked: "Where were all the local objectors to the plan when it was on view at Dublin Corporation's planning office?" Susan Dempsey (February 23rd) stated: "How it ever got planning permission is beyond my comprehension."
The fact is that many local residents as well as the National Trust for Ireland - An Taisce - objected strongly and repeatedly to this massive hotel, a development promoted by the RDS and encouraged by Bord Failte.
A most unsettling aspect of the hotel's development relates to the use of retention applications in the planning process. The cupola, the increase in roof height, the use of new materials and substantial modifications to the facade, along with other amendments to the original plans, were given retrospective permission by Dublin Corporation following application for retention. While we continue to object, we were not optimistic that permission would be refused given that the alterations had already been made. In fact there are currently two further planning applications with Dublin Corporation, both for work that has already been completed.
Surely this process by which construction precedes planing approval must cease. Let us hope that the Four Seasons Hotel will serve as a glaring example of poor architecture and planning, and that use of retention applications will be abolished. - Yours, etc.,
Patricia Gavigan, Churchill Residents' Group, Churchill Terrace, Dublin 4.