LDA buys up land in Clongriffin – including the Dirty Old Tower at the station

A southbound Dart train pulled into the Clongriffin station on Friday evening, and a flood of secondary-school students stepped out onto the platform.

They marched up the staircase leading them out of the station, most heading inland towards Clongriffin.

A few dozen also went to Baldoyle and The Coast, descending the rusting steel tower – a temporary access point to the station for coastside residents for more than 12 years now.

The Dirty Old Tower has long been deteriorating in private hands. A change in the land’s ownership has ignited hopes that something better could replace it.

It stands on the edge of lands, 125 acres in size, stretching east from the station, that developer Richmond Homes bought in October 2019.

The purchase was made with a view to developing 135 houses and 747 apartments on the land by Shoreline Partnership, a company headed by Mark O’Donnell, the CEO of Richmond Homes.

Shoreline got permission from An Bord Pleanála in September 2021 to undertake this major housing project, and as of October, it had built 117 homes.

And the council had decided to allow the developer to continue building before it delivers a permanent access point to the Dart station.

That decision by the council prompted the charity Friends of the Irish Environment to start proceedings for a judicial review.

But now the Land Development Agency (LDA) has bought the site, and will take over its development, says Green Party Councillor David Healy.

The LDA’s purchase includes the Dirty Old Tower, Healy said Thursday. “It’s my understanding that includes the existing station access.”

A spokesperson for the LDA did not comment when asked about this acquisition, and how much it cost. Richmond Homes didn’t respond when asked the same questions.

Step in the right direction

The LDA taking ownership of the land is a massive step forward, said Samatha O’Flanagan, of the Myrtle-The Coast Residents Association on Friday.

Her expectation is that now the National Transport Authority (NTA) can get to work securing the lift and enhancing the stairwell within the existing tower, she says.

“We also hope this means the LDA will prioritise building the development in line with the original planning conditions,” O’Flanagan says. That includes getting a proper, permanent stairwell access completed, she says.

Access to the station should never have been in private ownership, she says. “There’s still a huge amount of work to be done.”

But this shift over to state ownership puts the local community in a much stronger position to ensure the work now gets done, she says, “and there is a new level of accountability to the community”.

The NTA tendered a contract on 18 November to install a new lift within the existing tower and carry out regular maintenance on it for five years.

This contract was expected to be awarded in January, a spokesperson for Fingal County Council said on Friday. But they could provide no further information on the outcome of that process, they said.

A spokesperson for the NTA did not respond when asked about this, or when the new lift may be delivered.

Meanwhile, across the trainline, on the Clongriffin side, the LDA commenced work on 3 March on 408 cost-rental and social apartments on another parcel of land it bought back in 2023, according to the LDA’s website.

This land is located within the Dublin City Council area, and the LDA expects to deliver the first of the homes there in 2027, the release says.