Merchants Quay Ireland considers appeal on supervised injection facility planning refusal
The future of the proposed supervised injecting centre hangs in the balance as Merchants Quay Ireland considers whether or not to appeal a decision refusing it planning permission.
MQI is weighing up if it can afford the cost of appealing the refusal by Dublin City Council to An Bord Pleanála. Some estimates have put the legal costs at around €30,000 to €40,000.
On Thursday, DCC refused the charity's application for a pilot medically supervised injecting facility (MSIF) at its offices on Dublin's quays.
Drugs strategy minister Catherine Byrne told the Irish Examiner that the appeal's cost was an issue and that she would be “pushing” for some type of funding to enable it.
The Minister of State at the Department of Health said she was “very disappointed and frustrated” at the decision and said the “Government wants this facility in place”.
The DCC's Planning Authority turned the application down for a range of reasons, including: overconcentration of social support services in the Dublin 8 area (where MQI offices are); lack of a robust policing plan and public realm plan; the undermining of the existing local economy, particularly tourism economy; injurious impact on the local residential community and the hindering of regeneration.
Paula Byrne, chief executive of MQI, said it had a “very small window” to decide to appeal, with a deadline of four weeks from Thursday.
She told the Irish Examiner she hoped to meet with her planners, various stakeholders including the HSE and the Department of Health, and the MQI Board within the next two weeks.
“We have a lot of talking to do next week,” Ms Byrne said. “I have to talk to planners, to stakeholders and my board.
“My preference is to get this service open, but my question is are we just going into a process to get the same response?”
She said the cost of the appeal was a major factor: “You hear figures of €30,000-€40,000 – that's a big outlay for us as an organisation, as a charity.”
She said they would examine the reasons for turning down the facility.
Ms Byrne said that some of the council's objections were “not within their gift”, such as securing a Garda policing plan.
Commenting later, minister of state Catherine Byrne said she would be meeting MQI, the HSE and hopefully DCC and other agencies.
She said funding the appeal would be “one of the questions that will arise” and that they would have to discuss it.
“I will be pushing for consideration of some type of funding to consider an appeal,” she said adding she would also talk to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan about the Garda policing plan issue.
In a statement, the HSE said it was “disappointed” with the decision.
“Our next steps will be to carefully consider Dublin City Council's full decision and engage with the other stakeholders with a view to resolving the relevant issues before progressing to the next stage of the planning process,” it said.
