Work on DART stations in south Dublin is going ahead although some of the proposed work is the subject of appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
DART stations between Grand Canal Basin and Greystones will be closed at weekends from now until the middle of next year to allow a major modernisation programme to go ahead.
This includes lengthening platforms, improving footbridges, work on power lines and new sidings for extra DART trains.
It also involves making stations wheelchair-accessible, and in two of the stations, Blackrock and Killiney, this will see the installation of large lift-shafts. These are the subject of appeals to An Bord Pleanála.
Initially Iarnród Éireann obtained planning permission for the project, but this was appealed by An Taisce. The objections were based on Iarnród Éireann's failure to take into account the heritage protection provisions of the planning regulations, according to An Taisce's Mr Stephen Devanny. He stressed the organisation was objecting to a visually inappropriate development, not to making the stations accessible.
An Taisce enclosed with its appeal photographs of the work done on the station in Skerries, which was, according to Mr Devanny, "a hell of a sight better than what they are proposing." The decisions from An Bord Pleanála about to both stations are due on November 9th.
Asked why Iarnród Éireann was going ahead with the work before planning permission had been obtained for all of it, spokesman Mr Barry Kenny said: "There's plenty that our contractors can be getting on with. It does not all require planning permission. For example, platform extensions don't require planning permission. We will work through the planning process."
He said work will be going on through the night as well as at weekends, and this was necessary so that thousands more could use the DART.