Dublin City Council has refused planning permission to the owners of the former Regency Hotel, now the Bonnington in north Dublin for an additional six-storey "room only" hotel within its grounds.
Liffeyfield Ltd, part of the McGettigan hotel group, wanted to demolish the existing low-rise convenience store in front of the hotel on the Swords Road and replace it with a 234-bedroom hotel.
The Regency hotel made headlines in February 2016 when Kinahan crime gang associate, David Byrne was shot dead by gunmen that sparked the murderous Kinahan-Hutch feud.
In a sworn statement before the High Court in 2016 concerning the Regency business, director, James McGettigan stated that the Regency hotel had suffered immense reputational damage and loss of business in the weeks which followed the shooting.
A net insurance pay-out of €150,000 was made to the McGettigan hotel company, Regan Developments as a result of the gangland shooting and its impact on the hotel business.
The hotel rebranded as the Bonnington in October 2017.
However, the business has suffered a fresh setback with the city council refusing planning permission to the ambitious expansion plan.
The council refused planning permission after finding that the proposal in conjunction with the existing hotel use on site, would result in significant intensification of activity on the site and would seriously injure neighbouring residential amenity on site.
The council also found that the proposed development would result in potential vehicular and pedestrian conflict at the entrance of the site and the level of intensification of activity proposed would give rise to unacceptable levels of overspill parking on the adjoining access road and surrounding roads in the vicinity.
The planner in the case stated that the development as proposed would not be well-integrated into the existing hotel use on the site, would create a significant intensification of hotel use, and as a result would be likely to lead to detrimental impacts on neighbouring residential amenity by reason of late night noise and disturbance.
Social Democrat TD, Roisin Shortall was one of a large number of people to lodge objections against the plan.
Deputy Shortall told the city council that the 234 bedroom only hotel over four, five and six storey plan "represents an over-development of the site". She also raised traffic and parking concerns relating to the proposed development.
The most recent accounts show that hotel company, Liffeyfield Ltd recorded profits of €3m in 2018.
