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# Council working on new plan for homes at Portland Row, after proposal that would have eliminated pitch overturned
- URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/council-working-on-new-plan-for-homes-at-portland-row-after-proposal-that-would-have-eliminated-pitch-overturned/
- Published: 2026-09-24T23:55:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-25T00:06:53.000Z
- Description: At a recent meeting, councillors tabled three motions calling on the council to renovate the pitch, but council managers said there is no plan to do that at the moment.
- Author: Laoise Neylon
- Tags: Housing, City Desk

Dublin City Council and the charity Tuath Housing are working on new plans to build social homes at Portland Row after An Coimisiún Pleanálaoverturned an earlier permission granted for homes on two side-by-side sites, one of which is currently a sports pitch.

Last December, the council [granted planning permission](https://planning.agileapplications.ie/dublincity/application-details/170188?ref=dublininquirer.com) to Tuath Housing to build 49 social homes at Portland Row, on land that was previously a council depot, and on an adjoining pitch, or multi-use games area. 

The plan would include community arts and culture space, bicycle storage, and communal open space – but no multi-use games area.

Some locals, including the Olympic gold medalist boxer Kellie Harrington, said they support social housing on the depot site, but objected to losing play and sports space in an area with a shortage of sports facilities. 

There is no full-size GAA or soccer pitch in Dublin 1\. 

In December and January this year, multiple parties appealed the planning permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála, arguing that the move would breach the council’s city development plan – which promises to protect play spaces and parks, and to increase sports and play spaces in the north inner-city. The planning commission agreed.

Now the council hopes to have a new plan for housing at Portland Row prepared by the end of this year, said Ruth Dowling, an executive manager for housing delivery at Dublin City Council, at a [meeting](https://councilmeetings.dublincity.ie/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=310&MId=5877&Ver=4&ref=dublininquirer.com) of the Central Area Committee on 15 September.

“We are determined to deliver much-needed housing at that location,” Dowling said. 

Four councillors tabled three motions at the meeting calling for the council to renovate the pitch, which currently has a tarmac surface. 

Council officials said they have no plans to renovate the pitch at the moment, but are working on housing plans for the site and intend to review the current management arrangements for the pitch and how the site might be developed. 

“As the review and assessment process has not yet been completed, it is not possible at this stage to identify a funding source or commit to a specific redevelopment proposal,” said Marie Kavanagh, the council's area manager for the north inner-city, in a written [response](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28677658-september-cam-motions-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) to the motions.

The committee backed all three motions. “The motions are going in a very opposite direction to what housing and Tuath are proposing,” said Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam.

## Planning granted

Tuath’s plan for 49 homes at Portland Row took in two pieces of land. One was a former council depot, and the other was a run-down multi-use games area – in other words, a tarmac pitch that could be used for soccer or basketball. 

The Dublin City Council [planner’s report](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28670452/planners-report-portland-row.pdf?ref=dublininquirer.com) recommended that the council grant planning permission for the development, noting that the multi-use games area was not being retained in the plans. 

"However, a new multi-use community and cultural space is proposed within the new scheme which will be accessible to both residents and the wider community," it says. 

The council housing department also committed to upgrade a nearby multi-use games area at the back of the Dunne Street flats, around 235 metres away, it says. 

Local residents and public representatives submitted observations raising concerns about the loss of a pitch in an area with a shortage of play and sports facilities. 

Some said they supported the plan for new social housing on the depot site, but not the council’s plan to build on the pitch. Some acknowledged that the pitch was run-down. 

“The pitch, while basic and long-neglected by the Council, remains in regular use. It is one of the few accessible outdoor spaces for children, teenagers and community groups,” [wrote](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28674916-gannon-ennis-observation/?ref=dublininquirer.com)Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon and then Councillor Daniel Ennis (now also a TD). “To remove it without providing an alternative is not just poor planning, it is a setback for the locality.”

A [local audit](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28675211-local-audit/?ref=dublininquirer.com)carried out on behalf of Tuath identified other multi-use games areas in the local area, including at council housing complexes in Dunne Street, Hardwicke Street and James Larkin House, as well as at the Ballybough Community Centre and on Sheriff Street. 

The audit also mentions pitches at Fairview Park (which are around 1km away according to Google Maps) and a pitch at Mountjoy Square Park, which the council also intends to [remove as part of a planned redevelopment](https://www.dublininquirer.com/in-third-attempt-to-revamp-mountjoy-square-council-adds-play-zone-and-second-half-basketball-court/). 

Labour TD Marie Sherlock [said](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28674942-marie-sherlock-observation/?ref=dublininquirer.com) the council was promising to renovate a different multi-use games area in a neighbouring complex, at Dunne Street. 

However, “with no dates, no commitment of specific funding, no detail as what an upgrade may entail, it is very difficult for the local community to trust that such works would ever take place”, wrote Sherlock, in her submission. 

And she wondered how time-tabling would work if the two housing complexes were to share a pitch. 

## Overturned on appeal

There were several [appeals](https://webapps.dublincity.ie/PublicAccess%5FLive/SearchResult/RunThirdPartySearch?FileSystemId=PL&Folder1%5FRef=WEB2410/25&ref=dublininquirer.com) to the council's decision to allow the housing development. 

Most cited the council’s failure to comply with its own development plan, to protect and increase play and sports facilities. 

The city development plan is the council’s planning bible, which sets out what should be built and where, as well as what should be protected and retained. 

Independent Councillors Nial Ring and Malachy Steenson [appealed](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28671001-nial-ring-and-malachy-steenson-appeal/?ref=dublininquirer.com) the council's decision, saying the council had failed to adhere to its own policy, which aims to prevent the loss of sports grounds, pitches, and recreational spaces unless very specific criteria are met. 

David O'Halloran and others [said](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28670454-appeal/?ref=dublininquirer.com) that the approach of building housing on public space could have a knock-on impact for other parks and pitches around the country. 

“If that model is endorsed, Development Plans become meaningless as legal instruments, the erosion of protected open spaces and children’s amenities accelerates, and public participation safeguards are weakened across the country,” they said. [ ](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28670454-appeal/?ref=dublininquirer.com)

That appeal also points to the city development plan's [section on](https://www.dublincity.ie/dublin-city-development-plan-2022-2028/written-statement/chapter-13-strategic-development-regeneration-areas/1312-sdra-10-north-east-inner-city?ref=dublininquirer.com) the north-east inner-city, which refers to the Mulvey Report's recommendations, that the north inner-city needs more sports facilities. 

Harrington, the boxer, employed a planning consultant to [appeal](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28670869-kelly-harrington-appeal/?ref=dublininquirer.com) the decision, and argued that the depot site and the multi-use games area are two separate sites. Tuath can build on the depot site without building on the pitch, she said. 

An Coimisiún Pleanála [overturned](https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/500535?ref=dublininquirer.com) the council's decision to grant Tuath planning permission, mainly citing the council’s own development plan. 

“The loss of the MUGA does not comply with the site's Z1 Residential Zoning Objective to protect, provide and improve residential amenities,” said An Coimisiún Pleanála’s inspector in her [report](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28670447-inspectors-report-portland-row/?ref=dublininquirer.com). 

Nor does it comply with the council policy “to ensure equality of access for all citizens to the public parks and open spaces in Dublin City and to promote more open space”, she said.

It clashes too with the parks strategy objective “to manage and protect and/or enhance the city’s parks and public open spaces to meet the social, recreational, conservation and ecological needs of the city”, said the inspector in her report. 

“Therefore, the loss of an existing MUGA within an area of the city which has an evidence-based deficit in public open space would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area,” she said. 

The council had said that it would upgrade a nearby multi-use games area on North Great Clarence Street, to the rear of the Dunne Street Flats, the inspector noted. 

But while that was welcome there wasn’t sufficient information provided, she said. It wasn’t clear if that would add to overall recreational space in the area and if it would then be available to the general public.

In the end, the commission took the inspector's recommendation and [refused permission for the scheme](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28680637-acp-order-d500535/?ref=dublininquirer.com). 

It found that the project was "a high quality and coherent urban scheme with high quality public and communal open space".

But that, "The loss of an existing Mixed Use Games Area within an area of the city which has an identified deficit in public open space would ... be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

## At the Central Area Committee

At the committee meeting last week, four councillors tabled three motions to call on the council to upgrade the multi-use games area at Portland Row. 

“This pitch deserves a full upgrade and redevelopment so that it can continue to service the community,” said Sinn Féin Councillor Janice Boylan, [in her motion](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28680621-with-reference-to-motions-to-the-area-managers/?ref=dublininquirer.com). “This committee calls on the manager and CEO to make sure the funding is provided and the pitch is upgraded to the highest specifications.”

“We are continuing to work with Tuath in relation to Portland Row for the development of housing at that location,” said Dowling, the council manager. “From a housing perspective, we have no intention to do any works on the pitch in the immediate term.”

Independent Councillors Nial Ring and Christy Burke tabled an [emergency motion](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28681447-september-cam-emergency-motion-1docx/?ref=dublininquirer.com) calling on Dublin City Council “to immediately carry out a feasibility study to upgrade the existing MUGA pitch into a modern, high-quality all-weather facility complete with dedicated changing facilities”.

They wanted that done quickly, in consultation with local residents, so that detailed costings could be included in next year's budget, they said.

Dowling said that Ursula Donnellan,a senior executive officer with the council, told her that the council has a budget of €1.5 million for upgrading playgrounds and multi-use games areas across the city. “There is no firm commitment from Housing. We wouldn’t have a budget to do that ourselves,” she said. 

Social Democrats Councillor Ellen O’Doherty tabled a [motion](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28680621-with-reference-to-motions-to-the-area-managers/?ref=dublininquirer.com) calling on the council to refer the pitch to the Sports Plan Implementation Committee for further review and discussion. 

Said Kavanagh, the council area manager: “An immediate priority will be to ensure that the facility is appropriately managed and secured, while supporting community access and participation through the NEIC \[North-East Inner-City\] Sports Development Team.”

“The Central Area Office will engage with the relevant internal departments to review the current status of the site and assess potential options for its future development and use,” she said. 

Since the council has not yet carried out that review, the call for a referral to the Central Area Sports Forum or the Sports Plan Implementation Committee was premature, said Kavanagh.