A company linked to developer Johnny Ronan paid for anonymous advertisements in a Sunday newspaper in favour of easing height restrictions for large scale Dublin developments.

It’s the second case in a week of high-profile anonymous advertising after WebSummit founder Paddy Cosgrave spent €20,000 on Facebook advertising which he said was to raise awareness of Irish tax policies. 

An advertisement carried by the Sunday Times this week, paid for by Johnny Ronan’s Spencer Place Development Company (SPDC), compared the heights of software company Salesforce’s office towers in cities around the world with a planned office block in Dublin the shortest and dwarfed by tower blocks in cities including San Francisco. 


SPDC is building an office block for Salesforce in Dublin and wants to be cleared to add additional floors to the development. Mr Ronan is a director at the company.

A spokesman for the developer made no comment on the matter when contacted by Independent.ie.

This week SPDC brought a High Court challenge over Dublin City Council’s legal interpretation of building height guidelines that apply in Strategic Development Zone (SDZ).

Earlier this year the company applied to DCC to amend existing planning permissions aimed at allowing it to construct additional stories on its planned buildings. 
The additional height proposed in the planning applications is in excess of the maximum building heights set out in the planning scheme for lands at Spencer Place, in Dublin’s docklands.

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