The Irish Times

Campaigners for the preservation of one of Ireland's oldest round towers have won their battle to stop a development being built next to the national monument in Clondalkin, Co Dublin. South Dublin County Council yesterday refused planning permission to developer Mr Rory Burgess for a bar/restaurant and apartment complex on an 0.4 acre site within metres of the 8th century tower. The council's planners turned down the application on a number of grounds, including that it would "materially affect a protected structure" and could cause "serious traffic congestion". he refusal follows a "huge volume of objections" to the development, a council official said, including a recommendation from the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, that permission should not be granted.