The Court: Previous status reports

Status Report No. 10, April 2004

Planning Permission Expires

We lost our planning appeals to Dublin Corporation and the national Planning Appeals Board in 1998/9 which gave permission to the Office of Public Works (OPW) to convert the court to a recital hall for the National Concert Hall. That permission will expire on 7th June 2004. No construction work has been, or will be, undertaken on the project. The decision not to proceed was in fact signalled in 2000 in the period when we were simultaneously pursuing a technical appeal to the Irish High Court. After June 7th, the court status will revert to what has been the situation since 1939. University College Dublin is the lessee of the OPW (which administers all public property), and uses two-thirds of the court as a civil laboratory. The Archaeology section of the OPW occupies the balance.

UCD Plans to Move!

After 65 years of occupancy, UCD is scheduled to move its laboratory to new premises adjoining its main suburban campus at Belfield by autumn 2005. The position regarding the OPW Archaeology section is not specifically known, but there is a national decentralisation initiative underway for the OPW in general which will likely relocate them.

Clearly, this is the first major change in status of the court since Lord Iveagh's bequest, and signals an opportunity to finally return it to its intended use.

Coincidental with UCD's departure will be the retirement of the genial laboratory manager Paddy Donovan, who has kindly and discreetly allowed many visiting enthusiasts to view the faded glory of the marble court.

New President of UCD

Dr Hugh Brady, formerly of the faculty of Medicine assumed office in 2004. A former squash rackets player, we are hopeful, during intended future contacts, to enlist his support for our efforts to re-bestow the court on the Tennis players of Ireland and the world.

It's been a long saga since we first sought to champion publicly the case of Dublin's lost sporting gem in April 1998, and gained the unstinting and generous support of the Tennis community worldwide. Our thanks are also due to our loyal friends at the Dublin International Sports Council, An Taisce --- The National Trust for Ireland, the Irish Georgian Society, and a small number of committed legal and political friends.

We saved the Dublin court — Go n-éiridh linn as seo amach; may we succeed hereon.

— Ted Neville