The Cosgrave boys will be keeping their fingers crossed in the run up to Christmas that they will at long last be allowed to proceed with an apartment scheme on the site of the former Howth Lodge Hotel in the north Dublin coastal resort. For the third time, Fingal County Council has granted them permission for the apartments, but as everyone knows, Howth can be a sticky patch. On the two previous occasions, the planning appeals board overruled the local planners after objections from neighbours.

The latest decision allows Cosgraves to demolish the hotel and replace it with 57 apartments. Almost 120 car-parking spaces will be provided at surface level and underground. The 57 residential units are a long way short of the 137 originally approved for the coastal site or even the 102 homes subsequently agreed.

Cosgraves will also be looking for a change of heart by the appeals board on its refusal to endorse a planning permission for a giant business park west of the N11 intersection at Fassaroe in Bray. Against all expectations, the £130 million (€165m) scheme was turned down because it did not comply with the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the greater Dublin area.