More than 1,000 residential units planned for Dublin commuter counties across two developments

Comer Group seeks to build 716 dwellings in Meath, while Keldrum submits plans for 352 units in Wicklow

A crane at a residential construction site in Sandyford, south Dublin, Ireland, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The mass purchase of affordable houses — on the market for about 400,000 euros ($490,000) — set off a public firestorm and highlights the growing tension over the squeeze in urban housing and the role of large investors. Photographer: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/Bloomberg

Two development companies have drawn up plans for two Large Scale Residential Development (LRDs) schemes totalling more than 1,000 units in Dublin commuter counties.

In one scheme the Irish arm of the Comer Group is to lodge plans in the coming days for 716 dwellings on lands around Dunboyne in Co Meath. In a planning notice published on behalf of Comer Group subsidiary AZRA Property Company Ltd, the firm is seeking a 10-year planning permission for an LRD comprised of 517 apartments in eight blocks ranging from four to seven storeys.

The directors of AZRA Property Company are listed as Barry Comer and Luke Comer jnr, sons of the one of the founders of the Comer Group, Luke Comer snr.

The LRD scheme is to be constructed on a 42-acre site in the townlands of Castle Farm, Ruskin and Clonee. It would also include 155 two-storey houses. There would be eight two-bedroom homes, 69 three-bedroom homes, 74 four-bedroom homes and four five-bedroom homes.

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The scheme’s public open space component would be 28,030sq metres and there would be 887 car-parking spaces

In the second major LRD scheme, Glenageary, Co Dublin-based firm Keldrum Limited has lodged plans for a 352-unit residential scheme on a 41.5-acre site at Tinakilly, Rathnew, Co Wicklow. The plan for the site on the northern periphery of Wicklow Town includes 220 houses and 132 apartment/duplex/maisonette units.

A planning report by Brock McClure included with the application said the scheme would complement permission for 365 new units on an adjacent site. It is clear, the planning consultant said, “that this area has been earmarked for residential development for a number of years”.

The proposed development would connect to the Tinakilly Park residential development and Rathnew Village via a new section of the Rathnew inner relief road.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times