Cork's Prism dream shattered as permission lapses

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

The Prism, pitched 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 for his part in a payroll fraud at his own New York construction company, Navillus.

Clontarf Street Developments failed to 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 Street Lower.

The original, five-year consent was given in May 2019 and expired at the end of August 2024. 

Planning laws allow for permission to be extended, subject to certain provisions, including that substantial works have been carried out. 

While the developer argued 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 sub structure works, relative to the grant of permission for a 15-storey plus roof top canopy office block does not constitute “substantial” works in this instance”.
The developer had argued work would recommence when the commercial office-space market recovered, and had requested a five-year extension. 

The site has been surrounded by hoarding since piling, by CField Construction, was completed in 2022 and footpaths and road surfaces have been reinstated.