The battle lines are being drawn in Dartry, Dublin 6, where the Corpo has granted planning permission for a 832-bedroom student residence at Trinity Hall. The plan will allow the university to build three separate seven-storey blocks, which, according to critics, look far too institutional for this leafy neighbourhood. The facility will also include a dining hall, shop, offices, laundry and other facilities. The college will even take the old-world look off the entrance by removing the single-storey gate lodge. Residents had been particularly concerned about the fate of trees in grounds which were due for the chop. However, in its revised planning application, the TCD has undertaken to keep the trees. Concerned residents won't be short of legal advice as Dublin 6 has one of the highest concentrations of big-name barristers and solicitors in the land.

The Corpo decision is unlikely to be final word on the matter.