Developer Keith Craddock’s plans for a three-storey, 38-bedroom block for elderly members of religious orders in need of care in Dublin 4 face opposition from the Department of Education and local residents.
Mr Craddock’s Granville Developments Ltd lodged plans in July with Dublin City Council for the accommodation at Haddington Place on a site to the rear of Sisters of The Holy Faith in Ballsbridge.
Planning consultant for Granville Developments, Kevin Hughes, has told Dublin City Council that the proposal will “provide residential accommodation and care to members of religious orders in need of care”.
He says that the scheme “offers dedicated, supportive residential accommodation near existing religious properties, which is considered both appropriate and consistent with the policy of enabling people to age in place with dignity and independence”.
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Mr Hughes said the proposed development “will deliver a high-quality addition to the existing religious, educational and community uses around the site, and would not detract from the visual or residential amenities of the area”.
However, in one objection, Susan McCarrick on behalf of the Pembroke Road Association questions which nuns would be accommodated at the scheme, given that religious communities provide a home for their retired members.
“That we are expected to accept and believe that there will be an unlimited supply of elderly nuns to take up residence is fanciful,” Ms McCarrick told the council.
She added that “there are no views for residents to enjoy – just the back of other buildings. While the zoning is institutional, it does not have to be penitential”.
The council has received 11 submissions. In a separate objection, the Department of Education discloses that it made a bid to purchase the site “to safeguard it for future educational use but was ultimately outbid”.
Deirdre Maher, assistant principal officer at the department’s forward planning and site acquisitions section, said “the department regards the site as strategically important to the long-term provision of school facilities in the area”.
Requesting the council to refuse planning permission, Ms Maher said it was “concerned that the loss of this site would undermine its ability to meet current and future educational needs in Dublin 4”.
Ms Maher said the site “represents one of the very few remaining opportunities to provide essential educational and community infrastructure in the locality, given the scarcity of available land”.
A decision is due on the application later this month.
