A "stealth" planning exemption to turn a luxury hotel into a homeless hostel has been quashed with consent from both parties.
The Peter McVerry Trust had plans to set up a 74-bed homeless hostel on Baggot Street Lower inside a €5 million Georgian hotel with 24 bedrooms.
The site on 99-100 Baggot Street Lower - which is just around the corner from St Stephen's Green - hosted Latchford's Townhouse and Boutique Hotel for several decades before it went up for sale.
Read more: Dublin homeless charity plans to turn €5 million Georgian hotel into homeless hostel
Dublin City Council approved the Section Five application - which exempts the development from a change of use planning application and subsequent public consultations - before a Judicial Review of the decision was lodged in the High Court by two companies operating on the Street.
The exemption was then quashed with the consent of both parties with DCC acknowledging there were "some discrepancies" in determining the application.
The Georgian buildings hit the market at a guiding price of €5 million last year and the homeless charity applied for funding to purchase the building through Dublin City Council's Capital Assistance Scheme.
There are now questions as to what will happen to the funds after the planning exemption was quashed.
Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn was critical of DCC's approach to the homelessness crisis which he called "ad-hoc nonsense" and pointed out that a purpose built centre to house and offer services to homeless people would be a better approach.
He said: "In this day and age when we have not just a housing crisis but also homelessness - of people wandering the streets. We are twenty years into this process and we haven't built a purpose built building that would house people in an emergency situation like this. We are relying on ad-hoc nonsense.
In the Peter McVerry Trust's application, a letter from the Director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, Mary Hayes, to Pat Doyle, the CEO of the Trust, states that the DRHE consulted with DCC's planning department before the application was lodged.
Ms Hayes wrote that it was the opinion of the DRHE that a change of use planning permission would not be required.
The letter dated April 2021 reads: "The DRHE believes following discussions with Dublin City Council's Planning Department, that a change of use permission will not be required to provide an emergency accommodation facility at this location..."
The application was then approved by DCC in November before the courts processed a Certiorari quashing the decision with the consent of both parties.
In response to queries from Dublin Live, DCC accepted there had been "some discrepancies" in their decision.
A spokesman said: "The Planning Authority makes its decision based on the details of the proposed development provided by the applicant, the relevant planning history, protected status of the buildings etc.
"In this particular case, the Planning Authority acknowledged that there were some discrepancies in determining the application."
The Peter McVerry Trust will now decide whether they want to reapply for a planning exemption or a standard planning permission to turn the hotel into a homeless hostel.
The homeless charity declined to comment on how they plan to proceed.
Cllr Flynn said this type of "stealth" planning was becoming more common and raised questions of how the €5 million was given to the homeless charity.
He said: "Time and time again this is the case. It is done by stealth."
"Here we are back in the same place. We have made no progress whatsoever."
He added: "My real concern was the transparency around the €5 million."
Dublin City Council did not respond at the time of publication to Cllr Flynn's criticisms.
The companies behind the Judicial Review of DCC's decision to grant the exemption - HT Financial Services Limited and Get the Tables Limited - both own businesses on the street.
HT Financial Services' registered address is next door to the development and has been trading there for 17 years while Get the Tables owns the Chinese restaurant Chai-Yo which has operated out of the same building as the development for 15 years.
Read more: South Dublin residents plan legal challenge to homeless hostel in Georgian Hotel
Read more: Chinese restaurant lodges legal challenge to South Dublin Homeless Hostel
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