Latest news with #Donnybrook
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
The moving target that is RTÉ's woes
If there were one thing to be gleaned from Wednesday's Oireachtas media committee session with RTÉ 's leadership team, it is that the political focus has well and truly moved on since last summer. One of the big talking points to come out of last June's session with director general Kevin Bakhurst and co was the issue of outsourcing. The former BBC News editor was forced at the time to deny that the national broadcaster's transformation plan – a central plank of which is a contentious move to increase spending on outsourced, 'independent' productions – was tantamount to privatisation of in-house programming. All this after he was peppered with questions on the matter by members of the committee. Very little oxygen was expended on that issue on Wednesday. Instead, attention had largely shifted to RTÉ's latest financial foul-up: the €3.7 million or so written off on a troubled capital spending project to replace a legacy IT system in the organisation. But outsourcing has not gone away. Just last week, RTÉ announced plans to switch production of some religious programming – specifically, 'Christian worship content', as the broadcaster put it in a statement – to outside producers. It means Masses will no longer be broadcast from Donnybrook and will, instead, be produced by churches nationwide. READ MORE Asked briefly about it on Wednesday, Bakhurst said RTÉ hopes to get a 'different and a better product' out of the move and denied the broadcaster is phasing out religious programming. [ Ryan Tubridy has not repaid RTÉ €150,000 he received for Renault deal, Bakhurst tells media committee Opens in new window ] That will be cold comfort for staff, who are already concerned about the outsourcing of flagship programming such as Fair City and the Late Late Show, as announced last year. RTÉ's group of unions has reportedly written to the organisation's head of HR to request a meeting about last week's announcement. Asked on Wednesday about morale within RTÉ, Bakhurst diplomatically noted that it was 'very mixed'. Change is 'very difficult', he said, and there remains 'a very high level of anger and disappointment' about the 2023 secret payments scandal. In some areas of the organisation, however, morale is 'very good', the director general claimed. Against a backdrop of redundancies and outsourcing, it is difficult to imagine where these pockets of good feeling might be.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Former AIB Donnybrook branch primed for restaurant or retail use at €2.5m
Jones Investments, the property development group headed by Chris Jones, has engaged Savills and Agar Commercial Property as joint agents to offer the former AIB building in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, for sale at a guide price of €2.5 million. The property, at 69-71 Morehampton Road, is alternatively being made available to let at an annual rent of €180,000. Located at the junction of Morehampton Road and Marlborough Road, the property comes to the market with the benefit of two grants of planning permission in place. The first of these approvals permits the use of the building for grocery retail with ancillary off-licence and stores. The second permits restaurant/cafe use and upper-floor medical/office use. The property occupies a prime trading position within Donnybrook village with 17.5m of frontage on to Morehampton Road and a total of 365 sq m (3,928 sq ft) of space distributed across ground and first-floor levels. The subject property has a rear yard, which is accessed off Marlborough Road. [ AIB weighs sale of more problem loans with face value of €500m Opens in new window ] The building has had bespoke feature glazing installed by the owner and is being offered to the market in shell condition, ready for fitout by a new owner or occupier.
Irish Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Permission for 10-storey Donnybrook village apartment development quashed by High Court
The High Court has quashed planning permission for a 10-storey build-to-rent apartment development in Donnybrook, Dublin. Red Rock Donnybrook Ltd had received permission from An Bord Pleanála to redevelop the Circle K-occupied site at the junction of Donnybrook Road and Brookvale Road, opposite Donnybrook stadium, for 67 apartments. Dublin City Council had refused permission for Red Rock's original application, envisaging a 12-storey 84-apartment development, for reasons including that it would result in excessive height and mass, provided for insufficient car parking, and may prejudice the future provision of public transport infrastructure. Red Rock appealed to the board and in doing so revised the original application to reduce the height by two storeys and the number of apartments to 67. READ MORE The board inspector recommended refusal for failure to comply with urban building height guidelines, that it constituted overdevelopment and would have an unacceptable negative visual impact on a prominent site within Donnybrook Village. However, the board in August 2022 granted permission for the revised development. The Eglington Residents Association and Ramleh Villas resident David Clarke then brought a High Court challenge against the board to that decision. Red Rock was a notice party. The residents argued, among other things, that the permission was invalid because of the failure of the board to attach a condition requiring a financial contribution in lieu of the 10 per cent open space requirement for new developments. It was also invalid for failure to consider whether or not the development, without such a condition, materially contravened the City Development Plan, they said. Ms Justice Emily Farrell, in a judgment published this week, quashed the decision. She said that, in this case, the provision of public open space was a significant and relevant policy within the plan and no rationale for contravening this policy was readily apparent or had been suggested. There was no provision in the policy for the option suggested by the board that permission may be granted for a development that does not satisfy the 10 per cent open space requirement and which does not require a financial contribution in lieu, she said. It was necessary either to comply with the public open space policy or consciously depart from it if that was what it did, she said.
BreakingNews.ie
13-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Donnybrook village apartment development quashed
The High Court has quashed planning permission for a 10-storey build-to-rent apartment development in Donnybrook, Dublin. Red Rock Donnybrook Ltd had received permission from An Bord Pleanála to redevelop the Circle K-occupied site at the junction of Donnybrook Road and Brookvale Road, opposite Donnybrook stadium, for 67 apartments. Advertisement Dublin City Council had refused permission for Red Rock's original application, envisaging a 12-storey 84-apartment development, for reasons including that it would result in excessive height and mass, provided for insufficient car parking, and may prejudice the future provision of public transport infrastructure. Red Rock appealed to the board and, in doing s,o revised the original application to reduce the height by two storeys and the number of apartments to 67. The board inspector recommended refusal for failure to comply with urban building height guidelines, that it constituted overdevelopment and would have an unacceptable negative visual impact on a prominent site within Donnybrook Village. The proposed development is on the Circle K-occupied site at the junction of Donnybrook Road and Brookvale Road However, the board in August 2022 granted permission for the revised development. Advertisement The Eglington Residents Association and Ramleh Villas resident David Clarke then brought a High Court challenge against the board to that decision. Red Rock was a notice party. The residents argued, among other things, that the permission was invalid because of the failure of the board to attach a condition requiring a financial contribution in lieu of the 10 per cent open space requirement for new developments. It was also invalid for failure to consider whether or not the development, without such a condition, materially contravened the City Development Plan, they said. Ms Justice Emily Farrell, in a judgment published this week, quashed the decision. She said that, in this case, the provision of public open space was a significant and relevant policy within the plan, and no rationale for contravening this policy was readily apparent or had been suggested. Advertisement There was no provision in the policy for the option suggested by the board that permission may be granted for a development that does not satisfy the 10 per cent open space requirement and which does not require a financial contribution in lieu, she said. It was necessary either to comply with the public open space policy or consciously depart from it if that was what it did, she said.
