An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for a controversial development between Moore Street and O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre.
UK property group Hammerson made three applications for a mixed retail, office and residential scheme on a block known as the Carlton site.
This was approved by Dublin City Council in January 2022.
A number of groups, including the Moore Street Preservation Trust and the 1916 Rising Relatives Association, local businesses and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála.
It has notified interested parties that it is giving permission for the scheme to go ahead.
The scheme will include the demolition of some of the buildings surrounding the National Monument site at 14-17 Moore Street, associated with the 1916 Easter Rising.
Outlining its reasons for approving the scheme, An Bord Pleanála said it would “secure the redevelopment of under-utilised urban land in a city centre location” and “would not seriously injure … the character and appearance of the National Monument at 14-17 Moore Street”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said “the destruction of the Moore Street 1916 battleground site will not be accepted, and that the government must intervene to prevent it from happening”.
She said if the government failed to do so, it “would represent an unforgivable squandering of a golden opportunity to reimagine one of the most important cultural and historical sites in the state”.
Deputy McDonald said: “That permission for Hammerson’s plan has been upheld despite the fact that An Bórd Pleanála admits it contravenes the Dublin City Development Plan is deeply regrettable.”
