Dublin City Council is to give its decision on planning permission for a 7 story development featuring a mosque and apartments at Blackpitts, Dublin 8.
The project, entitled Al-Bari Mosque and Apartments, is being tendered by Barrett Mahony Civil & Structural Consulting Engineers.
The proposed development is on the site of a former warehouse owned by Independent Clothing Holdings and will involve the demolition of the existing two storey structure. The company is owned by Azhar Bari who is from Pakistan, and who was advised on the project by the Clonskeagh Islamic Centre, which is currently closed after a series of controversies arose related to its management earlier this year.
The existing structure currently on the site of the proposed development is noted as being “presently disused”, but parts of which have acted as a “mosque”, “food processing”. and “residential” in the recent past.
In 2021 An Bord Pleanála rejected an appeal application in regard to the same project after DCC gave permission for the building containing 27 apartments at numbers 25 and 26, Blackpitts Dublin 8.
As Dr. Matt Treacy previously reported, The proposal had been objected to by the management of the Presentation primary school and a local resident.
Past Controversies
In 2021, as parts of the existing structure were being used as a mosque, this activity attracted public attention as Islamic worship was found to be ongoing in breach of covid legislation.
Video captured large groups attending the site where well over a hundred people are reported to have been gathering at a time when An Garda Siochana were enforcing covid restrictions on gatherings at other locations in Dublin and elsewhere. VIDEO HERE
Previous Objections and refusal of permission appeal
At the time of the original application for planning permission was made, an objection on behalf of the Presentation school was lodged with the City Council (June 2020). The grounds cited were the height of the proposed building – in contravention, it was claimed, of the city development plan; that the upper stories would be overlooking the girl’s school yard; that a mosque could be built within the footprint and height of the existing building; that a previous proposal for another residential block had been rejected; child safety criteria, and; the likelihood that the proposal will lead to further development detrimental to a settled and historic local community.
At the time of the refusal by Paul Hyde of Bord Pleanála, Treacy reported that the decision did not “directly address any of the original concerns enumerated by the school” but stipulated “that the proposal must comply with a series of conditions on parking, noise and others outlined in the document.”The decision finds that the proposal is in accordance with national and local planning guidelines, and that therefore will be “in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”