The Commercial Court has upheld a challenge by the Sisters of Charity to the imposition by Dublin City Council of a zoning condition on their lands in the new development plan for the city.
The court ruled that all the Z15 zoning aspects of the plan must be quashed. The decision affects 780 hectares of land.
A Z15 designation treated privately owned land as resource land to be used for the benefit of the community.
Lawyers for the Sisters of Charity had argued that the Council had applied that designation to lands almost exclusively owned by religious institutions.
The Council had rejected that argument and contended the Z15 zoning was in the common good and promoted the continuing use of lands as a long term resource for a sustainable city into the future.
Senior Counsel Brian Murray for the Sisters had argued the Z15 designation meant future uses such as housing development were not open for planning consideration with adverse implications for the Sisters' ability to sell off land to fund their activities.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke ruled he must quash all of the Z15 zoning aspects of the Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2017 due to the failure to give adequate reasons for such "highly restrictive" zoning.
It remains open to the Council to readopt the Z15 zoning, or adopt alternative measures, but only if it sets out adequate reasons for that, he stressed.
RTÉ has a separate challenge to the Z15 zoning in relation to lands at its Montrose complex at Donnybrook.
