A Dublin Senator is defending his objection to the size of a planned housing development in his neighbourhood.

Locals in Marino held a public meeting last night to discuss plans to build 377 apartments and eight houses on Griffith Avenue.

Those against it say the eight-story blocks are not in keeping with the area, while others have pointed out homes are badly needed.

Local Labour Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who chaired the meeting, believes the planned project is too big.

He said: "Any application that goes anywhere is entitled to have community input, I don't think there's an issue with that.

"We shouldn't go back to the days of the 80s or 90s when developers did what they wanted with the city.

"There is a housing crisis but any application that goes in deserves to be observed by the community on its merits."

There were mixed views at a public meeting on the issue last night.

One man said: They're being built like tower blocks and they're not catering to families, they're not catering for elderly people. They're catering for, on paper it looks like, buy to rent.

Another person attending the meeting showed her support for the project.

"We have a terrible housing crisis that we're all very aware of so as long as it's responsible for high-quality development I would support it.