Four Courts Portico to be Shut Off?

See here and here for the story so far
Received today:

Dear Mr. McGarr

I write to you and your co-signatories further to Mr. X’s letter to you dated the 24th November 2005.

I wish to advise that pursuant to Part 9 of S.I. No. 600 of 2001, Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations 2001, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland following compliance with paragraph 90 sub-article (1) of this Act, considers it appropriate that the proposed Development will be carried out without modification.

Yours sincerely
etc
Property Maintenance Division

Translation: S. 9 of the quoted S.I exempts, amongst other things, court buildings from the Planning and Development Act 2000. Paragraph 90(1) provides for… well it’s short, so I’ll quote it:

90. (1) A State authority shall, in deciding whether a proposed development is to be carried out, have regard to any submissions or observations made by a planning authority or by any other person or body in accordance with this Part.
(2) A State authority may, following compliance with sub-article (1), decide, as it considers appropriate, that the proposed development will be carried out, with or without variations or modifications, or will not be carried out.

So as long as they “have regard”, the OPW believe they don’t actually have to pay any attention to objections , or even to explain how they came to their decision, they seem to believe.

So now for you. Is all lost? Will the railing kill the living use of one of Gandon’s “Architectural Masterpieces”?
I wonder what will happen next.

1 Comment

  • celtictigger says:

    Hmmm…. looks like the smart boy (or girl) in the OPW offices has come back from sabbatical. The Loophole-finder General I think is their title. The length of time it took to formulate this response is evidence of their absence.

    As for the future of Gandon’s architecture…. as long as the OPW have ‘regard’ to how significant it is to our cultural heritage (such as putting up a plaque and an old photograph) then they can pretty much do what they like.

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