Dublin City Council planners defend decision after supervised injection facility refused
Dublin City Council planners said that while they noted that the proposed supervised injecting facility was “national policy” their job was to determine its impact on the “vitality and viability” of the area where it was to be located.
The DDC Planning Authority said the proposed site, in the basement of the existing offices of Merchants Quay Ireland, was located on a “primary tourist route” within the city's historic core and that the council's City Development Plan had to be considered.
MQI offices are located along Merchants Quay, near the landmark Civic Offices (the headquarters of DCC), within the south west inner city, in Dublin 8.
The planners said the City Development Plan stated that an “over-concentration” of institutional hostel accommodation, homeless accommodation and social support services can “potentially undermine the sustainability of a neighbourhood”.
The authority said it had to be satisfied that the application did not result in “undue concentration” of such services, nor undermine the local economy, residents, residential amenities or regeneration of the area.
The planners accepted that “no precedent exists” within the State for such a facility and that the applicant detailed similar centres internationally.
While located in Dublin 8, it said it was the only such facility in the country. It could “only be assessed” as a national facility and was intended to attract clients from “the wider city area, and nationally”.
It said: “The ability of the area to accommodate this scale of use, when considered with existing services in the area, is of paramount importance.”
In its application, MQI said the anticipated number of clients was between 60 and 100 and that the majority of people would be “existing clients”. The service would operate for 9.5 hours per day.
The planners said they had to “balance the needs of the entire community”.
It said they were “not satisfied” that the proposed development could be accommodated without contravening the DCC Development Plan regarding overconcentration of social services – saying it would “undermine the sustainability of the neighbourhood”.
The authority said MQI was not able to “precisely ascertain” the numbers they expected and were concerned at the “overspill” into nearby public areas, which it said would “impact on the safety and perception of safety of the wider public”.
It said the 18-month trial period was long enough to “contribute to a significant deterioration in neighbourhood amenities”.
It had “serious doubts” on the effectiveness of key aspects of the facility's management, including tackling issues of congregation outside premises, anti-social/criminal behaviour and public nuisance.
It said they had “major reservations” a policing plan would not be drawn up until after planning, adding: “This leaves a high level of uncertainty regarding the policing of a facility which is intended to serve the entire city, and potentially attracting large numbers of service users from across the city and beyond."
Concluding, the authority said: “Having regard to the nature and scale of the proposed development, the overconcentration of social support services in the Dublin 8 area and the lack or a robust policing plan and public realm plan, it is considered that the proposed development would undermine the existing local economy, in particular the growing tourism economy, have an injurious impact on the local residential community Correspondentand its residential amenities, and would hinder the future regeneration of the area.”
