Labour chief whip Emmet Stagg TD has won his appeal against plans to develop a four-storey block of student housing and other facilities at the rear of a listed 18th century building in Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Known as Buckley House, the building in Parson Street was once the home of Donal Ó Buachalla, the last governor general of the Irish Free State.
Currently in a dilapidated state, it would have been renovated as part of the scheme.
The developers had proposed to demolish five derelict outbuildings and sheds at the rear of Buckley House and to restore the building itself for medical consultancy uses.
They also planned a new courtyard building with two retail units at street level as well as a restaurant and internet café, with 28 student housing units on the upper floors.
Mr Stagg was the sole appellant against Kildare County Council's decision to grant permission for the proposed development by Tuskar Property Holdings Ltd. He argued that it would have "destroyed the character of the area".
Upholding the appeal, An Bord Pleanála said the excessive height and mass of the scheme and its location directly adjoining other protected structures on Leinster Street would have detracted from their setting.
The board noted it was an objective of the local area development plan for Maynooth to preserve the environs of protected structures.
