Manhattan Peanuts has lodged a legal challenge to the Luas extension to Finglas

AN APPLICATION FOR a judicial review against the planned Luas extension to Finglas in north-west Dublin city has been filed at the High Court.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the state agency behind the project, confirmed to The Journal this morning that the case has been lodged.

It comes just weeks after a separate application for a judicial review was lodged against MetroLink, with delays to the country’s largest infrastructure project now inevitable as a result. The High Court has granted permission for that legal challenge by south Dublin residents to proceed.

The High Court lists the plaintiffs in the Luas Finglas case as Firethron Limited (this seems to be a misspelling of Firethorn) and Manhattan Peanuts. An affidavit was filed yesterday. Ahern Rudden Quigley solicitors, representing the companies, has been contacted for comment.

The case is listed for mention on 12 January.

Company filings show Firethorn and Manhattan Peanuts are related firms.

Operations at Manhattan Peanuts site

The 2024 planning inspector’s report on the Luas Finglas development notes a number of issues raised by Firethorn and Manhattan, including that the project would affect “daily operations and development capacity” at Manhattan’s site on McKee Avenue in Finglas.

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A proposed new access road as part of the Luas project would require a “concerningly large portion” of Firethorn/Manhattan’s lands and this would be bad for its plans for the site, the companies submitted.

The loss of lands along St Margaret’s Road would affect the “accessibility and development potential” of these lands, according to the companies’ submission to the planning regulator. The companies said the plans submitted for Luas Finglas lacked detailed mitigation measures.

Luas Finglas got the green light from An Coimisiún Pleanála, the planning regulator, in October. When the government signed off on the project in 2024, it suggested it could be operational by 2031.

The 4km extension to the Luas Green Line, beyond its current terminus at Broombridge in Cabra, aims to connect the populous northside suburb of Finglas to the city centre and beyond. It will serve up to 60,000 people a day. There will be four stops at St Helena’s, Finglas Village, St Margaret’s Road and Charlestown.

Feljin Jose, the Green Party’s transport spokesman and a councillor for Dublin city, said the extension is “badly needed” for tens of thousands of people who live, work and study in Finglas, and to enable the development of housing on industrial lands near Charlestown.

“The greater good has to prevail here. Far too many similar BusConnects and DART+ projects have been held up in similar delays,” Jose said.

The Dublin Commuter Coalition, a campaign group for better public transport in the capital, called this morning for a boycott of Manhattan crisps, a staple of pubs in the capital.

“Remind them with your wallets that they shouldn’t hold up essential public infrastructure,” Dublin Commuter Coalition said on the social media platform X.

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