Plan for 70 houses and apartments on Dublin 4 site beside Muckross all-girls school

Up to 70 houses and apartments have been proposed on the site of a former convent and chapel in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 that was owned by the Dominican Sisters, documents recently filed to Dublin City Council show.The developers have sought permission to construct a new five-storey complex with 29 apartments as well as various refurbishments and partial demolitions to existing structures, some of which were built nearly a century ago and hold protected status.The partial demolition and complete refurbishment of Muckross Park House, a former convent that housed 12 nuns some five years ago, has been proposed. This would provide for 25 apartments, the refurbishment of the religious order’s former chapel for 10 apartments and the construction of six houses within the adjoining walled garden. The application was submitted to the council earlier this month by Muckross Park Developments, a subsidiary of a McGreevy Investment Holdings – a Dundalk-registered company owned by Arthur and Sean McGreevy. The company generated €29 million in turnover and €7.9 million in pretax profits in the year to the end of November 2024, its most recently filed financial accounts show.READ MOREThe proposed housing development on Marlborough Road is equidistant to Donnybrook in Dublin 4 and Ranelagh in Dublin 6, and would back on to Dominican College, Muckross Park (often referred to simply as Muckross), a prominent all-girls school that is one of the few non-fee paying schools in the area.Past pupils include judges on the High Court and European Court of Human Rights, an RTÉ presenter, and author and Booker Prize finalist Emma Donoghue.Some 709 girls currently attend the school, while 587 boys and girls attend the neighbouring St Mary’s National School, according to the Department of Education. Both border the site of the proposed development.Documents submitted to Dublin City Council as part of the planning application indicate street access to Marlborough Road is shared with the secondary school, although it makes provisions for “alterations to the existing vehicular, pedestrian and cyclist access arrangements”.While Muckross Park House is a “protected structure”, meaning any proposed alterations to the building must comply with additional regulations, the developers do not propose demolition to the most historic parts of the house. The Dominican Sisters bought the property in August 1900, opening primary, secondary and collegiate level schools for girls later that year. As the school community expanded, the order built a boarding house for pupils, residences for novice nuns and a modern concert hall between the late 1920s and early 1930s.The convent was built in 1928 and the chapel was blessed in 1945, according to the secondary school’s website.They sold the site for €8.4 million in total through two separate sales on the same day in September 2021. A property called “Veritas House, Dominican Convent” was sold for €4.9 million, while “Dominican Convent, Muckross Park” was sold for €3.5 million, according to the Property Price Register, the State’s official database for residential property sales.The properties are not listed on Táilte Éireann, the State’s official land registry, and thus further exact details of its ownership and size are not publicly available. A one-bedroom apartment in Veritas House is currently listed to rent for €2,000 per month.,