DUBLIN City Council is taking legal action against concert promoter and developer Harry Crosbie over an unauthorised advertising structure at the Point Theatre site on North Wall Quay in Dublin 1. Crosbie is redeveloping the Point and surrounding land to include an enlarged concert venue, a skyscraper dubbed The Watchtower, apartments, a shopping centre and a hotel.

On the site he erected a structure comprising six plywood-clad shipping containers which are stack­ed on top of one another and then braced to two more shipping containers on the ground. Crosbie has used the ads for lighthearted publicity, includ­ing claiming Elvis would play the reopened venue and referring to Pope Benedict XVI as a rock god.

Dublin City Council served an enforcement notice on the site on 18 February "requiring the removal of the unauthorised advertising sign", a spokeswoman for the council said. The notice was not removed within the required timeframe and the council then initiated legal proceedings.

The council also investigated Crosbie for alleged breaches of working hours at the Point Depot site. A condition of the planning permission was that construction was confined to 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday and from 8am to 2pm on Saturdays. No construction was allowed on Sundays and public holidays, unless otherwise agreed. A spokeswoman for the council said a warning letter under Section 152 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was issued to the owner/developer of the site on 24 January but inspections at the site yielded "no evidence of any breaches of working hours". "The site continues to be monitored," the spokeswoman said.

Neil Callanan