Luxury hotel at Loreto Hall approved despite objections
The local authority has given Brown Table Solutions Ltd the go-ahead for the 87- bedroom hotel with restaurant and spa at 77 St Stephen’s Green, which will involve building an eight-storey block to the rear.
The development has received the green light in spite of objections from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Irish Georgian Society.
The ministerial offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs are next door at Iveagh House. In its objection, director of the department’s property management unit, Kevin Colgan told the council that “the privacy and security of Iveagh House is of paramount importance”.
He said Iveagh House regularly hosts sensitive meetings and negotiations with heads of state, national and foreign dignitaries, political leaders and high-ranking diplomats.
He said: “The proposal to construct a bank of hotel rooms with windows facing directly into the Iveagh House offices and ballroom (its main meeting room) with inadequate separation distance, is of great concern of the Department of Foreign Affairs.” The department said the current plan “constitutes a gross over-development of the application site”.
In its objection, the Irish Georgian Society said the proposed design is “jarring, visually obtrusive and grossly out of character with the uniform, ordered and fine grain facade of No 77 St Stephen’s Green”.
And the OPW said the proposal will “have implications in terms of security and privacy and hence on the successful operation of a piece of vital State infrastructure”.
Loreto Hall went on the market last year with a guide price of €5.75m. It was originally bought by the Loreto Sisters in 1911 for use as a hostel for young women from outside Dublin attending the National University at nearby Earlsfort Terrace. Objectors have the option of appealing to An Bord Pleanála.
