Keeping an eye on planning

Relief for Eddie Irvine

Former Formula 1 racing driver Eddie Irvine must be breathing a sigh of relief. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has granted him retention for the swimming-pool of the house (below) he has put on the market on Dalkey's Sorrento Road for €6.5 million. The pool, which can be accessed from the games room of the house via a plunge pool or from the grounds, is an essential staple of the bachelor pad which also has a four-person Jacuzzi, sauna, and hot tub. Designed by EN Smith and Kennedy, the towering 511 sq m (5,500 sq ft) house is where it is believed Eddie Irvine spent the sum total of a week living in since it was built several months ago.

Olympia to stage a revamp

The Olympia Theatre is planning a revamp of its historic premises at 72 Dame Street over the next decade. It is looking for a 10-year planning permission to restore the iron canopy and glazing and sash windows on the front elevation. It will also involve alterations to the ticket office and the enlargement of the stalls area, some work to Sheridan's bar and Maureen's Bar and to build a four-storey structure at Crampton Court with toilets and storage. The Olympia is a protected structure. Earlier in the year the Olympia was granted permission to build a modern five-storey office and retail building to its rear at Sycamore Street.

The plan is for retail at ground floor, offices on the upper floors and office storage at basement level. It will have a floor area of 862 sq m (9,278 sq ft) with two entrances on Sycamore Street. In the late 1990s, the owners of the theatre were refused permission for a six-storey office block and eight apartments on the grounds that the height and design would not "adequately complement" the civic importance of Meeting House Square.