John Gormley

Below is the text of the decision today by An Bord Pleanála to uphold the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) placed on Dartmouth Square by Dublin City Council: (more…)

Click the photo above to see more images of today’s protest at Dartmouth Square.

The Green Party is supporting residents who have organised a protest at Dartmouth Squarein Ranelagh, Dublin, this morning, where developer Noel O’Gara has set up a car park in the public park.

Green Party Chairman John Gormley TD said: “I am quite shocked at the latest actions of Mr. O’Gara. It is clear that Mr O’Gara cares very little about Dartmouth Square and the local residents. He is simply interested in making as much money out of this development as possible.

“This latest episode, again, shows why we must establish definitively how this situation was allowed to come about. I will be at the park this morning assisting local residents and I have no doubt that in the long run Dartmouth Square will remain a public park.”

Dartmouth Square, a two acre public park has been maintained by Dublin City Council since 1987. In January of this year, Mr. Noel O’Gara locked up the park, claiming it was now privately owned. Today, he moved cars onto the lands where he intends to build a crèche, gym and car park for 600 cars.

Following my appeal to An Bord Pleanála against the decision to grant permission for a major development on the South Bank Road, Dublin 4, I made a further submission today on additional information provided by the applicant and Dublin City Council. You can read my brief submission here: Fabrizia Planning Appeal further information

For background on this issue, please see the following related articles from May 2006:
Permission granted for major development at South Bank Road
Fabrizia development: Appeal to An Bord Pleanála

Green Party Chairman and TD for Dublin South East John Gormley has criticised An Bord Pleanála for refusing requests for an oral hearing into a massive proposed development on the Poolbeg peninsula, next to Sean Moore Park in Ringsend. Deputy Gormley joined with a large number of local residents in appealing the decision of Dublin City Council to grant permission for 16 blocks of 783 apartments, as well as office and retail space. (more…)

 89. Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the lack of consistency between planning authorities on the question of whether solar panels require planning permission is hindering uptake of the technology and if he will consider issuing planning guidelines setting out the conditions in which the installation of solar panels is exempt from planning permission. [22580/06] (more…)

100. Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the details of his recent discussions (details supplied) with Environment Commissioner, Mr. Stavros Dimas on the issue of high levels of retrospective planning permissions and Ireland’s compliance with the Environmental Impact Assessments Directive; and his plans to introduce legislation that would reduce the levels of retrospective planning permissions. [22581/06] (more…)

Together with a number of residents in the area, I lodged an appeal against Dublin City Council’s decision to grant permission for a major development on the South Bank Road, adjacent to Sean Moore Park. You can download the text of our appeal here: Fabrizia Planning Appeal

The residents of Maxwell Court, Maxwell Road and Upper Rathmines Road have called a meeting to discuss the decommissioning of the site of the former Esso service station at the corner of Maxwell Road and Upper Rathmines Road.

This removal of soil is the subject of an application for planning permission which Dublin City Council granted in March 2006. I have received a copy of the planner’s report, which can be downloaded here (TIFF format). If you can’t view this document, please get in touch and I can provide a hard copy.

 Mr. Gormley: This legislation has been introduced because the perception exists that many major planning proposals have been unnecessarily delayed.  The Bill is designed to fast track planning proposals.  It follows previous legislation from this Government to essentially dismantle people-centred planning.  We have had the introduction of fees for those who want to make planning submissions.  I know of many residents who make very sensible submissions on planning issues, who are now being charged for doing so.  It seems they are being charged illegally as the European Commission takes a different view and has asked the Government not to charge those fees for a submission. (more…)