Hot on the heels of Dublin Corporation's planning decision on Spencer Dock, those who object to high-rise developments in the city will have another opportunity to air their views at an oral hearing this week on the "skyscraper" scheme planned for George's Quay.
An Bord Pleanala is dealing with an unprecedented number of appeals - 10 in all - against Dublin Corporation's decision last October to grant planning permission to the Cosgrave Property Group for the proposed development, subject to its height being reduced to 80 metres.
That decision was made against the advice of the corporation's chief planning officer, Mr Pat McDonnell, who strongly recommended that planning permission be refused for the scheme because of its "detrimental" impact on the low-rise skyline of the city centre.
But the city architect, Mr Jim Barrett, argued that the design proposed by international architects Skidmore Owings and Merrill had distinct advantages over an earlier office development planned for the site, because of its livelier mix of office, retail and residential uses.
The corporation did not request an environmental impact statement from the developers before reaching its decision, because the site was below the two-hectare threshold for an EIS. However, An Bord Pleanala believed an EIS was required due to the scheme's significant impact.
The architects, SOM, availed of the board's request to look again at the original design, as amended by the corporation. This exercise resulted in the scheme being substantially recast, with the central office tower reduced further in height to 73.7 metres (Liberty Hall is 59).
With the adjoining apartment blocks correspondingly reduced, the architects have argued that "the resulting building expression is no longer that of a tower with lower buildings flanking it, but rather a cluster of building forms that create a sculptural massing".
Despite these design changes, the objectors - who include the Dublin Docklands Development Authority - are maintaining their opposition to the scheme; some of them say the changes are so radical that what is now before the board is an entirely new and separate development.
Even though reduced in height, the glazed towers at George's Quay would "significantly impact on the context and setting of the Custom House", according to the Irish Georgian Society, as well as imposing "permanent intrusive change on the general skyline of the city".
In its response to the developers' EIS, the society said there would be a cumulative impact in terms of visibility, prominence and intrusiveness on Dublin's largest concentration of listed buildings within a 1.5 km radius of the site, including Trinity College, to the south of it.
According to the South East Network, which works with communities in Pearse Street and Ringsend, the reduction in height would "do nothing to reduce the cluster of bulk and mass and its imposition on the surrounding community". It was still totally excessive, it said.
The DDDA, which had already made its views known to the corporation, will be arguing that the proposed development would be "extremely disruptive" to the low-rise scale of the city centre and would not comply with its own master plan for the Docklands area.
The principal issue facing An Bord Pleanala is whether George's Quay is the right site for a high-rise scheme. McHugh Consultants, who compiled the EIS, point to the existence of several other high-rise buildings in the vicinity, notably the grim cluster around Poolbeg Street.
There is also the fact that George's Quay is one of the most accessible sites in Dublin. It is located next door to the city's busiest DART station, Tara Street, and there is a long-standing planning policy to facilitate major office development beside public transport "nodes".
The board must also take into account its own decision in 1990 to grant planning permission to Irish Life for the development of nine office blocks at George's Quay, of which only two have been built, and that this permission is still valid because it was given a life-span of 10 years.
That is the main difference between George's Quay and Spencer Dock. In the latter case, there is no planning history; it is, in effect, a blank canvas in planning terms. With George's Quay, however, the developers have a fallback position, the scheme approved in 1990.
Architecturally, few would argue that this scheme - designed by Dublin architects Keane Murphy Duff - is in the same class as the latest proposal from Skidmore Owings and Merrill, with its swirling lines and sculptural shapes. The issue is whether George's Quay is the right site.
The third-party appellants will also be arguing that SOM's scheme is premature, pending the completion of a skyline study now being commissioned by Dublin Corporation which would identify those parts of the city where higher buildings might be permitted.
Within recent weeks, An Bord Pleanala has refused planning permission for two high-rise developments in the Docklands area, one in Ringend and the other at Barrow Street, near the Grand Canal Docks. In both cases, excessive height was given as a reason.