An Bord Pleanála will today begin an oral hearing into the application for an €18m euro cruise berth at Dún Laoghaire Harbour.
The application was submitted by Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company in July in the hope that the 435 metre long jetty would attract larger liners into the town.
The plan includes a 435m long single cruise-berth jetty, associated structures and will require dredging the channel off St. Michael's Wharf.
However, there has been widespread local opposition to the plan - 150 submissions have been received by the planning board, and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barret has lead the campaign to stop the work.
The plan is one that “will do immense damage to Dun Laoghaire as a public amenity” he said.
Chair of the Save Our Seafront Campaign, Deputy Boyd Barrett against the plan because he says it is linked to the Company's eventual plan to build hundreds of private apartments.
“It is a plan for really the beginning of the privatisation process of Dun Laoghaire harbour and it is linked to plans to put private apartments in the harbour which will make big chunks of what is a public amenity an effectively exclusive space,” he added.
