Mosque proposed for Clongriffin –

Jerry Gannon

DUBLIN CITY planners are to meet public representatives on proposals for a €65 million, mixed-use development based around a new Islamic cultural centre on the city’s northern fringe.

The council is currently considering a planning application which includes a large mosque, a 34 classroom school, conference centre, assembly hall, playground and swimming pool on the site in Clongriffin.

The development also includes a small number of apartments and retail units. It is backed by Gerry Gannon, whose Gannon Developments has funded the nearby Dart station and a range of public facilities in Clongriffin.

These include an internal street network, a 460-space park-and-ride facility, retail outlets, apartments and houses.

Local Labour Party TD Seán Kenny told The Irish Times he was not opposing the development but felt there were a number of issues which needed to be settled.

He said the inclusion in the plans for “only 192 car parking spaces is entirely inadequate for a 600 people capacity conference centre.”

He also said he failed to see why the application included retail units, including a crèche, bookshop and library, “when there is a vast amount of empty retail units nearby on Main Street.”

Mr Kenny said a meeting would be held on Tuesday week between public representatives and planners.

There was a large mosque in Clonskeagh which blended in well with the surroundings there. The new project could also blend in if it was integrated “with the existing retail, residential, and access footprint in Clongriffin”.

via Mosque proposed for Clongriffin – The Irish Times – Sat, Oct 20, 2012.

via Mosque proposed for Clongriffin – The Irish Times – Sat, Oct 20, 2012.

Gerry Gannon background

Gerry Gannon, so-called ‘man in the hat’, is an Irish builder and property developer since the 1980s. Gannon plays a significant and leading role in the build-up and demise of the Irish property bubble. Gannon was at the center of the Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy, which is a contributing element in the development for the 2008–2011 Irish banking crisis.

As reported by the Irish Independent newspapers on February 20, 2011, “a portfolio of properties worth about €12m was transferred into the name of developer Gerry Gannon’s wife, Margaret, between 21 May and 10 December 2009”

One wonders how this man is still in business