The ban on religious orders selling land for housing other than social housing has angered many Dublin schools, writes Paul Cullen

The removal of a single word from the blueprint for Dublin over the coming years has wiped hundreds of millions of euro off the paper value of religious-owned school land throughout Dublin.

Last September, city councillors voted overwhelmingly to remove "residential" as a permitted use on lands zoned for "long-term institutional use", unless social and affordable housing was being provided.

The change, which most directly affects educational lands owned by the churches, will have major repercussions for the education sector, in which schools have traditionally funded repairs or new developments by selling off land deemed to be surplus.

With the price of building land reaching astronomical levels in recent years, many of the capital's most prominent schools find themselves sitting on goldmines. Schools such as Alexandra College, Terenure College and Gonzaga College all boast extensive grounds situated in the sort of leafy suburbs most coveted by developers.

While officially their lands are zoned Z15 (long-term institutional use), in practice this has not proved a barrier to obtaining planning permission for residential development.

Not any more, however. Unless the councillors change their minds - and there is no sign they intend to - the restriction will form part of the draft development plan for the city for 2005-2011, due to be finalised next month.

Thereafter, the owners of Z15 lands would have to apply to have them rezoned before any development could take place. But rezoning has been a dirty word in Dublin planning for years, so such a process is likely to prove contentious and lengthy.

Alternatively, development could take place by way of a material contravention of the plan. This option is even more controversial, however, and requires the support of 75 per cent of councillors.

So seriously have the churches taken this challenge to their assets that dozens of orders and schools have fired in objections to the council. Both the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) and the Archbishop of Dublin's property trustees claim the measure is unconstitutional and have signalled their intention to challenge it in the courts.

The Archbishop, who says institutional lands will be "sterilised" as a result, has even sought a blanket rezoning for 58 of the diocese's properties to allow them to be developed.

Schools won't just lose out because they can no longer sell off high-value land for development; they will also suffer the depreciation of a paper asset that was useful for obtaining loans and mortgages.

In their various submissions, the schools say they will be affected in various ways. St Louis High School in Rathmines, for example, wants to build a sports hall for its students as well as providing for the ageing members of its community, but says some "reorganisation" of its property will be needed to achieve this.

"Is it a case of councillors in glasshouses throwing stones from the comfort of their own Dublin 4 and 6 homes with substantial space, by exercising their council mandate to exclude other people of their generation who like them might wish to be in a position to live in closer proximity to their places of work?" asks Sr Maureen Kelly of the St Louis community.

In Coolock, the Marist Fathers says more than 8 acres of their land at Chanel College are surplus to requirements and would be suitable for high-density housing. They also say they need to care for older members and argue that the school has enough sporting facilities.

"The property at Coolock is also becoming increasingly subject to vandalism because of its present open nature. Security is becoming an important issue, as are the costs associated with security," according to the Marists.

It's a similar situation with the Jesuits, who say the future of their complex at Milltown is jeopardised by the change. They point out that Gonzaga College occupies a 19-acre site, yet Department of Education guidelines require a maximum of 13 acres for the provision of a secondary school with sporting facilities.

Local Labour councillor Mr Oisín Quinn, who backed the change, rejects the various arguments put up by opponents. "You have to have zonings which mean what they're supposed to mean. If anyone wants to build on long-term institutional land, they are free to apply to have it rezoned." He points out that another zoning category, Z12, still allows residential development on institutional land. "It's not unreasonable, in the context of a six-year plan, to expect the institutions to be able to plan ahead for their land use, but this has to be done in an upfront and transparent way.

He cites the example of the Redemporists, who applied to have their land in Rathgar rezoned to Z12 so they could sell some for housing.

Cllr Quinn describes this as a "coherent, logical, upfront" approach.

Unfortunately for the Redemptorists, it was also unsuccessful. Indeed, councillors rejected a number of prominent rezoning applications from church organisations when considering the draft development plan.

This has led some religious to conclude that "we're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't" as far as the council is concerned; either they leave their lands as they are, in which case they can't build on them, or they seek to have then rezoned, only to be refused.

The Sisters of Charity probably wouldn't use such language but they have claimed religious orders are being "singled out" by the change, which they describe as "offensive" and "discriminatory".

With neither side showing a willingness to budge, it seems likely that the issue will ultimately be sorted out in the courts.