Marlet bought the site adjacent to St Anne’s Park in 2015 with a view to providing a significant number of homes. Any effect on efforts to provide housing for people in the area, however, is acceptable. In the middle of a housing crisis, it is becoming increasingly clear that the actual provision of homes is bottom of the heap in terms of priority under the planning system as structured. Even politicians now understand that housing is the single most pressing social and political issue of our time. Unless other elements of the planning process are also required to compromise, there is no chance of addressing the housing crisis and every chance of growing social exclusion with the risks that brings.

Source: The Irish Times November 18, 2025 09:39 UTC