Bartra’s Castleknock site to drag Varadkar into catch-22
RICHARD Barrett’s Bartra Capital has endured a tumultuous time in recent weeks over its plans to bring shared living to Dún Laoghaire. The co-living development, which will see 42 bedrooms share a kitchen, is in line with the Government’s new planning guidelines, but the proposed development was described as “Dickensian” by local councillor Ciarán Cuffe.
While Bartra will be hoping the dust will settle on its Eblana Avenue proposal, Ergo expects it to be thrust right back into the spotlight when its next plan is submitted. Barrett and co view the shared-living model as a key part of its future investments and they intend on bringing around 200 such units to the Brady’s Pub site in Castleknock, Dublin. However, this site has attracted the limelight before — particularly due to its location in Leo Varadkar’s constituency.
Varadkar appealed a previous planning permission of 41 apartments on the site in 2017, before it was acquired by Bartra.
At the time Varadkar described the proposal as “grossly insensitive” and lamented the fact that it would “affect the marketability of treasured homes in the area”. He was not alone in his objections, with Labour’s Joan Burton and Fianna Fáil’s Jack Chambers also piling in on a lengthy objections list. But Bartra’s new proposal is likely to leave the Taoiseach in a bind.
Will he continue to protect the interests of those in his locality by objecting to a proposal that will house five times more people than the last plan? Or will he back his Government’s own planning guidelines?