Dublin City Council’s North West Area committee has unanimously passed a motion to write to the owners of the Drake Inn in Finglas to seek out their plans for the site.
The motion was tabled at January’s area committee meeting by Fianna Fail councillor Keith Connolly.
The council will now write to the owners of the abandoned building, who are registered in Switzerland.
A reply to the motion from local authority’s active land management unit said that The Drake Inn, 59-60 Main Street, Finglas Village, “was entered on the Vacant Sites Register on 16th April 2019 as it met the criteria, as set out in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act, 2015 (As amended) VS-0976 refers.”
After the site was placed on the Vacant Sites Register, a levy of seven percent of its market value was placed on the site and served to the owners in February 2021.
“The figured equated to €28,000,” said the council. “The Act does not give the council power to force the owner to clean up the site.”
It is understood that efforts to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on the site have failed to date.
The council says that The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act, 2015 does not provide for the compulsory acquisition of property.
Speaking following the motion Connolly said: “The Drake Inn is an eyesore at the heart of Finglas Village which has been lying vacant for over a decade.
“Although a planning application was lodged in 2019 it was refused by Dublin City Council planners.”
Connolly says that the council refused the application on the basis of “having regard to the height, scale and massing of the proposal on a prominent corner site in Finglas KDC and its proximity to two-storey property, it is considered that the proposal represents an abrupt transition in the streetscape and represents over development of the site.
“I opposed the application myself at the time due to the scale and façade of the finish,” Connolly says.
“I don’t think there would be too much opposition if a new planning application was submitted on a smaller scale that takes inconsideration the existing village and its surroundings.
“It is very disheartening to have the centre of our village abandoned especially for volunteer lead groups such as Finglas Tidy Towns who do so much great work, constantly trying to enhance the village.”
The Drake Inn has been lying idle since 2009 and according to Hospitality Ireland, it was sold for €610,000 at an Allsops Auction in 2014 to Swiss-real estate company Sarl Mush.