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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Mar 1970

Vol. 244 No. 13

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Killiney (Dublin) Hotel.

7.

asked the Minister for Local Government the reasons for his granting of outline planning permission to a person (name supplied) in Killiney, County Dublin, for the erection of an hotel overlooking Killiney Bay.

The development to which the question refers proposed the demolition of an existing hotel on the seaside of the Vico Road and the construction of a new hotel in its stead. The planning authority had refused outline permission on the grounds that the development would create a traffic hazard and because the proposal would not be in accordance with an objective which they intended to include in their development plan that a large area including the site of the hotel should become public open space.

The developers appealed against the decision and in support of their proposal pointed out that it would open up views of the bay then closed to the public by removing the barriers imposed by the existing hotel which was 20 feet over footpath level, removing and lowering sections of the existing five feet high boundary wall and by designing the replacement hotel so that it would be three feet below the lowest level of the footpath.

In connection with the appeal Bord Fáilte Éireann stated that the accommodation which the development would provide was badly needed in the area and the Eastern Regional Tourism Organisation indicated that they welcomed the development.

In so far as traffic hazard was concerned, I felt that the objection was not sufficiently well founded to outweigh the project's advantages.

The decision on this appeal therefore depended on the feasibility of the planning authority's open space objective which would require an acquisition programme of major dimensions and involve large sums in compensation. A claim for compensation had already been lodged with the planning authority as a result of an earlier refusal of permission for development of the site. I did not consider that the planning authority were likely to find practical or realistic ways to pursue their policy to an extent that would warrant refusal of permission for the development proposed in this instance and I made an order accordingly on the 15th March, 1967, granting outline permission for the development proposed.

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