AN BORD Pleanála has overturned planning permission for the partial demolition of a pub mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses, to make way for a six-storey apartment development because of its "excessive scale and unsympathetic design".
The planning board also said that the proposal by Michael Hedigan, the owner of Hedigans, a 19th century landmark pub on Prospect Road, Glasnevin (also known as the "Brian Boru"), failed to respect the character of the building and would be "a discordant element in the streetscape".
Michael Hedigan was previously granted permission by Dublin City Council to redevelop the pub into 57 apartments in three blocks, the tallest being six storeys. This would have involved demolishing the rear of the pub to make way for a four-storey extension which would incorporate a pub, community room, two apartments and a duplex.
The planning permission was subsequently appealed by Court Management Company which said the development would overshadow and overlook apartments in its complex to the north and impede views of the canal.
Hedigans features in Ulyssesas the pub where mourners stop on the way to the cemetery. The pub is reputed to have been built on the site where Brian Boru camped before the Battle of Clontarf.
