AN APPEAL HAS been launched against Dublin City Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a development on the Stardust fire site.

Labour councillor Aodhan O Riordain said he was lodging an appeal to An Bord Pleanala in respect of the proposed project at the Butterly Business Park and adjoining areas. The plan for the site at Artane, Dublin where 48 young people died in a fire at the Stardust ballroom on St Valentine’s Day in 1981, is a major redevelopment. It is to comprise retail units, a hotel, 162 residential units in nine blocks, a community hall, creche and medical centre.

The plan also provides for a memorial plaza dedicated to the victims of the Stardust fire, according to the Dublin People. Fine Gael’s TD for Dublin North East, Terence Flanagan, said that he would be objecting to An Bord Pleanala. He said:

The proposed development is not in keeping with the character of the area. Artane is a quiet, established area and a development of this nature would disrupt the lives of the residents who are largely elderly.

Now Cllr O Riordain has voiced his concerns to An Bord Pleanala. He claims that the planning permission:

• contradicts the Development Plan of Dublin city which limits residential and commericial development in the area to four storeys in height;
• does not take into account the public transport links in the area which he calls “inadequate” for a hotel and large new number of residential properties;
• would “compromise future plans to designate the site as a historical heritage site, commemorating the Stardust memorial”.