Local residents and environmental groups are expected to appeal to An Bord Pleanála following a decision by Galway City Council to grant planning retention for a half-completed apartment complex which was shut down in August last year.
Environmental groups have already criticised the council for granting retention for unauthorised features of the development at the junction of Henry Street and New Road, just minutes from Galway city centre.
Director of services Mr Ciaran Hayes confirmed that the council had granted planning permission for the project, with eight conditions attached, following a revised application by Marfield Developments Ltd.
Among the conditions attached are the removal of one apartment, a reduction of the building's encroachment onto the pathway adjoining the Eglinton Canal, revised car parking arrangements, the removal of a balcony which fronts onto New Road, and an agreement to put a new stone frontage onto the canal.
Following complaints by local residents and site inspections, council officials served notice on the developers in early August of last year and no work has taken place on the project for the past 12 months.
Yesterday, environmental watchdog Cairde na Gaillimhe claimed that the development's "two foot excess" over the permitted height was now being "blithely accepted by city hall planners" as insignificant.
"Other questions like its unprecedented doorways which open direct onto Canal Walk and its 'balcony' windows which open directly onto the Henry Street footpath, remain totally unaddressed," said a Cairde spokesman, Mr Seán O'Domhnaill.
A spokesman for the Galway branch of An Taisce, Mr Derrick Hambleton, said his organisation would be appealing the council decision to the planning appeals board.
Earlier this year, he had called for the building to be demolished because he claimed it was at variance with proper planning and development standards.
"It is an exceptionally bad building, which should never have been given the go-ahead in the first place," he said. "When you start out with a bad plan, it is very hard to correct it. It is completely out of place in one of the most traditionally established communities in the city."
The revised plan, granted permission this week, is for 19 rather than 20 apartments.