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The site in west Dublin where the apartments are to be built. Google Maps

Plans for apartment blocks objected to by Leo Varadkar and Joan Burton get the go-ahead

An Bord Pleanála has backed an earlier decision by Fingal County Council.

PLANS FOR FOUR four-storey apartment blocks in Castleknock that were objected to by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and former Tánaiste Joan Burton have been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála.

The proposed development at Brady’s Public House on the Old Navan Road in Dublin would see the pub demolished and replaced with 41 residential housing units.

Fingal County Council approved the plans in January of this year but a number of appeals were launched by locals and politicians, among them Varadkar and Burton.

Varadkar’s objection was co-signed by Fine Gael councillor Eithne Loftus and included complaints about the type of development planned and the possibility that it would cast shadows over nearby houses.

“To begin, four-story apartment blocks are a design model which has long fallen into disfavor,” Varadkar wrote.

Yet these type of apartments are a key feature of the Absainte Ltd scheme. It would be grossly insensitive to local feelings to permit such dated architecture to succeed.

It continues:

Another flawed feature, one deeply worrying to the community, are a host of issues surfacing from the ‘shadow analysis’. No neighbours should be subjected to serious overshadowing.

PastedImage-53032 Fingal County Council Fingal County Council

At last month’s National Ploughing Championship, Varadkar defended his intervention by saying that his constituency is one which is “blighted by bad planning”.

“It’s always the prerogative of a councillor or a TD to object developments that they may see as inappropriate,” he said according to the Irish Independent.

Burton’s objection was made on similar grounds and was co-signed by local Labour member John Walsh.

“The four storey development is visually obtrusive and would dominate the existing estantes, “ Burton wrote in her objection to An Bord Pleanála.

The visual impact would affect not only estates immediately adjacent to the site (Talbot Downs, Talbot Court and the Old Navan Road) but also the neighbouring Woodpark Estate. The proposed development severely detracts from the visual amenity of the surrounding area.

Burton’s objection also stated that the plans contained inadequate parking provisions and that it would lead to “a significant increase in traffic”.

Despite the objections, An Bord Pleanála last week approved plans for the development under a host of conditions.

Among the conditions are that some design elements of the development be amended.

Read: Calls for homes on AirBnB to be registered with local councils >

Read: Clondalkin social housing estate gets green light from council >

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    Mute Gerard
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    Jul 26th 2013, 4:59 PM

    Bit of a stupid comment

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    Mute The Leads Are Weak
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    Jul 26th 2013, 7:36 PM

    Bit of an understatement.

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    Mute Teresa Moran
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    Jul 26th 2013, 10:58 PM

    I am glad that an arrest has been made. God help this poor man and his family. I hope he pulls through.

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    Mute harpurlee
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    Jul 26th 2013, 4:32 PM

    When the guards seal off an area where a serious crime was committed for a technical examination do they ever find anything

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    Mute Ciaran Byrne
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    Jul 27th 2013, 2:24 AM

    That’s disgraceful

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    Mute Jay'Jay Retros McCabe
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    Aug 3rd 2013, 9:01 PM

    Omg ;’( my uncle I’ve only seen him once & I find out someone did this to him? </3

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    Mute Marc Bolan
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    Aug 16th 2013, 3:04 PM

    Get well soon bro from all of us in london

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