Church demolition is postponed for two weeks

The demolition of a 19th-century Presbyterian church in Sandymount, Dublin, was halted at the 11th hour yesterday - at least for a two-week period - to allow local representatives to come up with a survival plan.

The stay came yesterday afternoon as workers were starting to remove the windows from the Tritonville Road building.

The stay was granted after negotiations between local councillors, residents and representatives of the Presbyterian Residential Trust in Ireland, owner of the church and surrounding gardens.

The Presbyterian community which operates a sheltered housing scheme behind the church recently drew up plans to extend the housing project, utilising part of the church site. The church has lain derelict for 20 years and is suffering from dry rot.

The situation, Ms Linda Ray had said on Wednesday, was looked at from "a safety perspective and the way we can best meet the needs of the community".

However, while there was relief among local councillors who negotiated the two-week delay yesterday, no one was underestimating the size of the problem.

Those present at the negotiations included the local Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, Labour councillors Mr Dermot Lacey and Mr Kevin Humphries, and the newly-elected Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Chris Andrews. A representative of An Taisce, Ms Valerin Yeaton, also attended the negotiations.

Afterwards Mr Gormley said an architect would survey the church on Monday to ascertain if it could be conserved. There would also, he said, need to be a concerted effort to seek funding from appropriate sources for the conservation of the building.

Mr Gormley said he was hoping that some alternative to demolition could be found, while at the same time recognising the housing needs of the Presbyterian Residential Trust.

He said undertakings were given that a public protest organised by local residents would be called off during the two-week period. The public representatives also undertook not to seek to have a preservation order served in the interim, and not to interfere in any way with the legitimate planning permission for the demolition of the church.

Mr John Reid, a committee member of the trust, said the demolition had been put off because "our colleagues requested some time".

Asked if the church would now be looking at alternative proposals for the site, Mr Reid said the plan was still - as it always had been - to demolish the church and build residential units.

He said the church body was waiting on any proposal that might come up within the two weeks, but maintained that no agreement on preservation had yet been reached.

On Wednesday a protest at the church saw local people carrying placards with the messages "Don't destroy our heritage" and, to passing motorists, "Beep if you support us".