Community pushes back against gated complex

On February 7th Dublin City Council issued an enforcement notice for the removal of the gates at the Grand Canal Harbour development.  

This issue dates to 2019, when Marlet Property Group was granted planning permission for a 550-apartment complex. It was later amended in 2020 to add more apartments – both proposed plans consisted of an effort to create a “permeable scheme”. 

This complex was to include a “public plaza”, creating “new public spaces” with “all private spaces at ground [to be] privately managed and accessible to the public”. 

In December 2024, Labour Party councillor Darragh Moriarty told the council’s South Central Area Committee: “My understanding was that was to be an open courtyard for public permeability and the gates have now been erected.” 

These gates block out the local community and contradict the approved plans.  

 Marlet Property Group’s website promoting this complex shows no such gate and state: “With 54% of the development dedicated to public spaces, Grand Canal Harbour will be fully pedestrianised with internal streets and new routes linking Market St through Basin View and onto St James’s Hospital.” 

Following the inquiry from South Central Area executive manager Bruce Phillips, Dublin City Council issued an enforcement notice to Marlet Property Group requiring “the removal of the black metal fencing and gates from the three entrances/exits into the open space of the apartment blocks at Grand Canal Place Dublin 8”. 

This is to be complied with by May 13th. 

Issues such as the gates “happen a lot and the developers in question don’t do anything – and ultimately, it’s not progressed legally”, CEO of Liberties Community Project Austin Campbell told The Liberty.

If the gates come down, it would be a great example of “community engagement”, Campbell said. But the risk is that it is ultimately just a “paper success”, he warned.

Liberties Community Project provides a range of programmes dedicated to the development of the Liberties community through employment, education, social enterprise, integration and housing regeneration.

New developments can lead to the “pricing out” of the existing community, Campbell said. He pointed to the rent rises driving out community centres such as the one at 3 Usher Street: these centres exist as “social hubs, they were places for the community to go, and now those places are disappearing”.

One way to ensure awareness of the developments happening in your community is the Dublin City Council newsletter, Campbell says. It will alert subscribers with all the planning permissions granted in your area.

This community awareness of planning permissions is paramount to spotting issues such as the Grand Canal Place gates.