A group of residents living in Ranelagh, Dublin 6 are willing to enter mediation in an effort to settle their legal challenge to the MetroLink rail project, the High Court has heard.
Nineteen residents of Dartmouth Square West filed judicial review proceedings last week challenging An Coimisiún Pleanála’s (ACP) grant of permission for the 18.8km, mostly underground, rail line.
The multibillion euro project would run from Swords in north Dublin to Charlemont, close to Ranelagh, in south Dublin. The route would have 16 stops serving areas including Dublin Airport, Ballymun, Glasnevin, Phibsborough and the city centre.
Following a planning application submitted by Transport Infrastructure Irelandm (TII), MetroLink was approved by ACP through a railway order signed on September 30th.
RM Block
The residents are seeking an order quashing ACP’s grant of planning permission for the MetroLink. TII is a proposed notice party to the action.
On Monday, Declan McGrath SC, appearing for TII, told Mr Justice Richard Humphreys his client had written to the residents suggesting mediation. He said TII has previously been able to reach agreements with “interested parties” in relation to the project.
Stephen Dodd SC, for the residents, said his clients were agreeable to entering mediation. Mr Justice Humphreys said he was supportive of any form of alternative dispute resolution.
The judge also raised the possibility of the applicants altering their case to challenge a specific element of ACP’s planning decision rather than the entire grant of permission. He said it was something for the parties to think about.
The judge had earlier set a date in March for the hearing of the case.
Mr McGrath submitted that the development is of the “highest priority” and his client was seeking the earliest available hearing date. Fintan Valentine SC, for ACP, said his client concurred with the submission.
Mr Justice Humphreys adjourned the hearing of the residents’ “leave” application to next week. For a litigant to bring judicial review proceedings, they must first get “leave”, or permission, of the court.
The leave application is not opposed, Mr Dodd told the court.
The residents taking the challenge are: John Ryan and Grace Maguire; Geraldine Ann Cusack and Geraldine Cusack; Terry Reid and Denis McLoughlin; Leo Crehan and Ann Crehan; Martin Jones and Mary Jones; Elizabeth Vandenberghe; Caroline O’Connor; Niall Parsons; Kitty Wallis and Camillus Wallis; Muiris O’Dwyer and Helena Kelly, and Angela Ryan and Manuel Ryan.
Kalamunda Co Unlimited, the holding company that owns the McCabes Pharmacy group, which was bought two years ago by PHX Ireland, the owner of the Lloyds Pharmacy chain, is also an applicant in the challenge. Kalamunda is owned by Sharon McCabe, of Dartmouth Square West.
According to their court papers, several of the residents’ grounds for the challenge stem from a claim that ACP failed to carry out an adequate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed metro development works.
Part of this claim relates to the proposed limits of deviation of MetroLink tunnels and other structures within the development. Limits of deviation are a range of potential measurements of a structure.
The residents say ACP did not consider in its EIA potential structures as authorised under the limits of deviation, including the MetroLink tunnels.
The residents also say ACP’s treatment of a recent redevelopment at the former Carroll’s building – located on the Grand Canal close to Charlemont Luas stop – as independent from the MetroLink development was unlawful.
The residents say substantial elements of the proposed Charlemont station box – an underground station, essentially – were in fact constructed between 2021 and 2022 as part of the development at the Carroll’s building.
This led to “predetermination” of the Charlemont site as the terminus for the proposed MetroLink. Arising from this, they claim ACP did not assess reasonable alternatives to the proposed termination of the line at Charlemont, such as at St Stephen’s Green or Tara Street.
