The decision of An Bord Pleanála to permit a 22-storey highrise tower at Tara Street, opposite the Custom House, is a catastrophic error which undoes decades of planning control in Dublin and will irrevocably damage the city's irreplaceable character.

Amid the general fiasco that has characterised Irish planning over the last 60 years, there was at least one achievement of maintaining Dublin as one of Europe's low-rise major historic cities. This is now lost.

The allowing of highrise towers in the centre of Dublin is gravely erroneous. The city already has a highly defined identity of historic streets and squares, rivers and canals, grand public buildings and churches, plus its rich literary and artistic associations.

The permitted 22-storey tower will constitute a massive intrusion on the established character of the city centre, having an enormous and adverse impact on a number of important Conservation Areas including Trinity College, the Liffey Quays, College Green and O'Connell Street.

The decision will have major repercussions for the status of Dublin; it is unlikely to now achieve the coveted UNESCO World Heritage Site status for 'Historic City of Dublin', which requires internationally-accepted standards for protection, conservation and management of the historic urban landscape.

Long-established height protections for the historic centre of Dublin were recklessly scrapped in new guidelines brought in by Minister Eoghan Murphy last year.

For further information, contact:

Kevin Duff, An Taisce Dublin City. Tel: 087 6500855

Charles Stanley-Smith, Communications, An Taisce. Tel: +353 87 241 1995

email: publicaffairs@antaisce.org

An Taisce The National Trust for Ireland

Notes:

An Taisce - Protecting Ireland’s heritage, safeguarding its future

An Taisce is a charity that works to preserve and protect Ireland's natural and built heritage. We are an independent charitable voice for the environment and for heritage issues. We are not a government body, semi-state or agency. Founded in 1948, we are one of Ireland’s oldest and largest environmental organisations.