Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company has welcomed An Bord Pleanála's decision to approve a 240-berth extension to the State's largest marina.
However, the appeals board has said the company must apply for a foreshore lease or licence from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources before any development can proceed.
The marine leaseholder, Marina Management and Marketing, was reported to have been involved in recent discussions on possible sale of its 30-year stake in the 500-berth marina for a quoted price of more than €18 million to music promoter Denis Desmond of MCD.
The harbour company sought permission two years ago from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for an expansion to 740 berths, and this was approved last year. The company said the expansion would take place within the curtilage of - but involving no work on - protected structures at the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Traders' Wharf and Dún Laoghaire west pier.
However, the decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by the Commissioners of Irish Lights and John O'Connor.
In its appeal, the Commissioners of Irish Lights, which is responsible for lighthouses and safe navigation around the island of Ireland, and which has been based in DúLaoghaire since 1875, raised concerns about safe access for its tender, the Granuaile. It said the ship would be required to negotiate an unnecessarily longer and indirect route closer to the west pier and Traders' Wharf in a confined channel, and it would affect its manoeuvrability. It said it had forfeited long-held storm moorings within the harbour area to allow the first phase of the marina to be constructed.
The appeals board attached eight conditions to its approval, including archaeological monitoring of dredging works and refurbishment of Traders' Wharf public toilets.
The marina was approved in 1999 and opened in 2001, following a controversy dating back to the mid-1980s over the impact of a private development in a public harbour, spearheaded by the late maritime historian John de Courcy Ireland.
The marina met its berth occupancy targets two years ahead of schedule and has a waiting list of more than 160 applicants. It can accommodate more than 1,200 visiting craft.
The harbour company, which is the statutory body responsible for Dún Laoghaire harbour, said the development would cost about €3 million and would be funded by Marina Management and Marketing. Some 120 berths would be built on to the existing marina pontoons and a further 120 berths laid out beside the west pier breakwater. The revised layout eliminated berths alongside Traders' Wharf, it said.
The company said yesterday it had applied to the Department of the Marine for an amendment to the existing foreshore licence to accommodate a revised layout of the berths.
It hopes to have completed the expansion by April 2007.