RTE

A High Court decision today could clear the way for the development of the Carlton Cinema site on Dublin's O'Connell Street. The court rejected a challenge to a Compulsory Purchase Order made by Dublin City Council on the site in 2001. The challenge was taken by Paul Clinton, an architect and member of the Carlton Group, which had secured planning permission to develop the site in late 1999. The council had made the purchase order after deciding that the Carlton Group had neither the finance nor the development expertise to advance the project. Mr Clinton claimed it breached his constitutional right to property and was made without the council identifying how to develop the site. He argued that Carlton was never given a proper opportunity to progress its proposed development. In his reserved judgement today, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan said that the Integrated Area Plan considered O'Connell Street as important as the Champ Elysées in Paris. He said it should be an attraction similar to the great streets of other major cities. To achieve this required an integrated approach which was detailed in the plan. The Carlton site has been mentioned as a possible new site for the Abbey Theatre