Council says it has started legal action over fences around apartment complex in the Liberties

At the top of Market Street South, near the Guinness Storehouse, the big apartment complex at Grand Canal Harbour has a black fence blocking much of the wide entrance into its internal courtyards. 

During the day at least, pedestrian gates are left open. It’s not clear whether they are closed at night. 

The situation is similar at two other entrances, on two other sides of the Grand Canal Harbour.

The fences shouldn’t be there, the council told the developer in February. In a planning enforcement notice, the council gave a deadline to take down the fences of 13 May 2025. 

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On 20 May, in response to a query asking what the council intended to do about the fact that the fences remained up after the deadline had passed, a council spokesperson said it was “currently engaging with the developer in this matter and the enforcement case is still live”.

In a written query at Monday’s monthly council meeting, Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty noted that the developer had sought an extended deadline to comply with the planning enforcement notice – which they were granted up to August. 

But that’s passed too now, Moriarty wrote. 

The written response Moriarty got from the council executive said the planning enforcement section has now started legal proceedings in relation to the unauthorised development.

But the response also said the developer is in talks with the council “with a view to lodging an application to retain the gates and railings concerned for a period of time to deal with significant anti social issues in the area and for the protection of the residents in the development concerned”.

Moriarty highlighted how the promise of permeability was included in the original planning permission for the scheme. 

It was a company called Atlas GP that applied for planning permission to build Grand Canal Harbour. In its annual return last year, Atlas GP listed Patrick Crean as a director. Pat Crean is CEO of the developer Marlet, which lists the project on its website.

The large development of 596 apartments in blocks of up to 13 storeys sits between the Guinness Storehouse and St James’s Hospital. 

According to the Marlet website the development “will be fully pedestrianised with internal streets and new routes, linking Market St through Basin View and onto St James’s Hospital”.

The architectural design statement in the amended planning permission granted in 2020 includes objectives for the scheme’s public realm. These include the creation of “new public spaces” and an effort to create a “permeable scheme”.

Elsewhere, the document says “The landscape design has considered principles that have inclusivity as a result: Avoiding physical barriers …”

But, instead “the developer has created yet another gated community in the Liberties”, said Moriarty, in his question to the council. 

While pedestrian access may be possible during the day, the fences make it look more like a closed complex, so many walkers might not know they use it as a through route.

The council expects the developer to submit a planning permission application in the next two or three weeks for planning permission to retain the fences, according to its response to Moriarty.

“As with all planning enforcement cases, the legal proceedings will run separately and concurrently with any application for retention received in this matter,” he said. 

Marlet hasn’t responded yet to queries sent Tuesday asking if it intends to apply for planning permission now for the fences, and if so, why it didn’t ask the council for permission to put them up in the original application.