What looks like the end of the Prism also raises questions about the future of a €150m hotel development on the former Cork Port site on Custom House Quay, Kerryman said Kevin O’Sullivan, of Tower Holdings Group/Clontarf Street. Developments, is behind both proposals.

The Prism, billed as a glitzy 15-storey glass office block, was to be the first Cork development for New York-based Mr O’Sullivan, whose brother, Dónal, was jailed for six months last year last for his role in wage fraud at his own New York construction company, Navillus.

Clontarf Street Developments did not respond when asked if they intended to reapply for planning permission for the Prism, which was earmarked for a small triangular site in Cork city, near Parnell Place bus station, and bounded by Clontarf St, Deane St and Oliver Plunkett. Lower street.

The initial consent, lasting five years, was given in May 2019 and expired at the end of August 2024.

Town planning laws authorize the extension of authorizations, subject to certain provisions, in particular the carrying out of substantial works.

While the developer argued that this was the case – that the substructure had been completed at basement level – the council disagreed.

As a result, their executive planner recommended that an extension be refused on the grounds that “the extent of the substructural works, compared to the granting of permission for an office building over 15 storeys with canopy on the roof, does not constitute “substantial” work. in this case “.
The developer had argued that work would resume when the commercial office market recovered and requested a five-year extension.

The site has been surrounded by hoarding since the piles, by CField Construction, were completed in 2022 and footpaths and road surfaces were reinstated.