Developer Sean Dunne will have to pay more than €1m to Dublin City Council before he is allowed demolish the Hume House office block in Ballsbridge, paving the way for the construction a 16,000 square metre office block in its place. Dunne was also told the new car park cannot be sold, rented or otherwise sub-let to other parties.

The scheme got the go-ahead despite an objection from billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond who said it was a "blatant effort to shoehorn the maximum amount of usable space on the site".

"There is no proper justification for the size and scale and extent of the development proposed," Desmond had said.

It was reported last week that a 70% stake in the Jurys Berkeley Court site in Ballsbridge, which is close to Hume House, had been transferred to Dunne's bankers.

Dunne's other assets include a street mall in Donnybrook in Dublin 4 and land in Greystones in Wicklow.