The Irish Times

Dublin Corporation must be commended for its planning decision on Spencer Dock. The fact that chief planning officer Mr Pat McDonnell's report runs to 163 pages is in itself an indication of the corporation's comprehensive assessment of what is by far the largest urban development ever planned in Ireland.

What emerged last Friday was something like Solomon's judgment. The tactics employed by the Spencer Dock developers, on the lines of "don't hit me now with the child in my arms", did not produce the result they were seeking. The child in question, the National Conference Centre, is now virtually an orphan.

The development consortium - Treasury Holdings, Mr Harry Crosbie, the Docklands entrepreneur, and CIÉ as freehold owners of the pivotal 51-acre site - had gambled on getting a more favourable decision from the corporation than they might have got from the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.