Next to the recently finished Lisieux Hall, there’s a number of different planning applications for various developments on Murphystown Road, on the Glencairn Park & Ride and next to it. This is the section of land that fronts onto the pathway between Sandyford Hall and the Glencairn Luas. The land backs onto Mount Eagle Court.
The planning application that’s recently been lodged and has gotten a lot of attention is the planning application by “Leinster Assisted Living Ltd” for a 6 storey development facing onto Murphystown Road. That’s the one I’ll have the most detail about below. I’ll include some information about the planning process and at the bottom you’ll be able to read my own opinion on the application.
Other nearby developments
These are some current and future developments in the immediate vicinity recently with planning permission:
- Glencairn Park & Ride/Mr Bean Coffee: 18 apartments granted permission in May 2025. Planning permission viewable here, known as Tapton Phase 2.
- Southside Storage/The Stone Studio: a planning application was made in November 2025 to make some relatively minor changes to the industrial buildings. Generally removing lean-to structures and removing parts of the buildings. This application was granted permission by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council planners on the 11th March 2026.
- Coolmine House: planning was granted to turn Coolmine House from office use to a coffee shop use in October 2025.
- Small plot of land next to Sandyford Hall roundabout: a 3-bed house was granted planning permission in April 2025. Planning application viewable here.
- Lisieux Hall, completed recently with 200 social and affordable apartments. This was built and being managed by Respond Housing Association and the first residents moving in over the coming weeks.
Leinster Assisted Living Planning Application
A company called Leinster Assisted Living have made a planning application for a 6 storey development facing onto the narrow roadway between the Sandyford Hall roundabout and the roundabout in front of Glencairn Park & Ride. The application was made on 19th February 2026. All the planning documents are here on the DLR Planning Portal.
The first thing to say is that all we know about the planning application is what has been submitted by the applicant themselves, Leinster Assisted Living Ltd (LALL). LALL were set up as a company in February 2026. There is no solid information about LALL in the planning documents and no mention of the company having any employees, or whether its directors have any experience in assisted living.
The second thing is to be clear on what the process is. The applicant has submitted this planning permission to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. It’s the job of professional planners to review the application and decide whether it complies with planning policy – local and national. They also review any submissions made by members of the public in case planning issues have been raised that they didn’t notice from the application itself. It’s important for people to be aware: the planners in the council don’t have any regard for the volume of submissions, or opinions expressed in submissions, or anything in submissions that aren’t related to local or national planning policy.
So what’s in the application: the application is for a 6 storey building to accommodate up to 180 people, in 59 “rooms”. It also includes demolishing the Glencairn Motors building and relocating the Stone Studio to Coolmine House.
For the 180 people living in the building, and staff members, there are a total of 5 car parking spaces proposed by the applicants. The parking area is proposed to be covered over and above it is meant to be the outdoor space for residents. 225 square metres of what’s known as “communal open space” for the 180 people. In an apartment development this size at least 3 times this would be required. This communal open space is effectively the private garden for all 180 people. It’s located at a height squeezed between the new proposed building and the existing Southside Storage building.
The building is approx 15m from the front of the nearest block of the new Lisieux Hall, 30m from the side of the nearest house in the Roseacre development and around 60m from the back of the nearest house in Leopardstown Heights (Mount Eagle Court). The Minister for Housing’s rules on setback say that developments must be set back at least 16m from the rear upstairs window of existing houses.
The application says “is hopeful of entering into an agreement with the DHRE (Dublin Region Homeless Executive) for the provision of assisted accommodation upon attainment of planning permission.” The application goes into some detail on how they feel they comply with design guidelines for emergency accommodation. Here is a direct quote from the planning application which you can use to make up your own mind:
“The proposed development layout has been designed to address the requirements of the Guidelines for the Development of New Emergency accommodation (September 2022).
The document sets out the following objectives:
- The guidelines will equally apply to specifically designed new built emergency accommodation”
- To meet the need of those presenting as homeless and to reduce reliance on commercial hotel and B&B accommodation, it is important that local authorities review capacity required and identify properties that can be acquired for conversion or land for purpose built facilities.”
From looking at the floor layouts, the development could accommodate single people and/or families but that’s not something they need to share at planning stage.
It’s important to be clear on the facts about people who become homeless. The vast majority are people who simply can’t afford to rent somewhere to live in Dublin, despite working. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive publish monthly reports on the reasons behind people becoming homeless.
The application says that access to the new development will be through the same way as the old gate shown below. It would have a separate entrance to Southside Storage’s who will keep using their existing entrance.
A reminder that all the planning documents are here on the DLR Planning Portal. The application gets assessed mainly against the DLR County Development Plan 2022-2028. So if you’re making a submission, I would advise looking in the County Development Plan for the policies that the development should be adhering to. Observations can be made on the planning application up until 5pm on the 25th March 2026.
My own view on the Murphystown Road planning application
As I mentioned above, it’s the professional planners who decide every private planning application made to the council. Councillors can have a say through the public consultation process, advise local residents or make submissions, but the decision is made independently by public servants. I’ll make a submission and a lot of it will be what’s below.
My concerns about the development would be:
- Building design suitability: The applicants make the argument that Lisieux Hall is 6 storeys, but there is a difference here. Firstly, the 6 storeys of Lisieux Hall are set back from the roadway with a wall screening the ground floor apartments. This development has the building with ground floor right up against the footpath. This will have an overbearing effect on the busy walkway between the Luas and the estates west of Kilgobbin Road like Sandyford Hall and Belarmine. The combination of this 6 storey and the Lisieux 6 storeys could create a wind tunnel effect on this narrow roadway/walkway. At the very least the applicant should have an independent wind assessment carried out.
- Quality of life for the future residents of the development: the outdoor communal space and the internal communal space seems very small for the 180 people estimated to be living there. The outdoor space is also above the car park looking straight out onto the Southside Storage industrial building. 5 parking spaces for 180 residents will for sure have an affect on the residents of the building. There are many people who don’t own a car and get on just fine (like myself), but 5 spaces for 180 people is not feasible. The indoor communal spaces also look very cramped too. The noise and hours of the industrial uses Southside Storage and the Smith Autos would be very close to the residents and lower their quality of life.
- Public vs private: I’m going off the planning report where there are 30 mentions of the word “homeless” which means there is a chance it will be used as a privately-run homeless emergency accommodation. Emergency accommodation for homeless people should be publicly-run in my view. Private provision means less accountability, profit can be prioritised over quality of service and unpredictable as a private business can change priorities of go out of business at any time.
- Incoherent planning: the whole site from Smith Autos to the Park & Ride inclusive is zoned residential. It’s a fairly small site and applications are coming in piecemeal for different parts of the site one at a time with no coherent overall plan for the wider site. The current application is clearly put in to be able to cater for Southside Storage, but that doesn’t mean the best possible residential development can be applied for on what’s left of the land. The whole site should be master-planned up before more applications come in for small bits of the site here and there.
- Community facilities within short walking distance: If this is to be a car-free development for people who need assisted living, there are no community centres very nearby. The closest community centre is Belarmine Community Centre, 15 minutes walk away for someone in good shape.
Get in contact
If you have any questions about this planning application on Murphystown Road or any others, please do get in touch on ooconnor@cllr.dlrcoco.ie. A reminder that all the planning files are here on the DLR Planning Portal.
