Angry locals have expressed fury at plans to build a four-storey nursing home on the grounds of a historic site in Clondalkin.
Developer Bartra Healthcare submitted plans for the 155-bed nursing home and a smaller 14-bed unit on the grounds of the Presentation Convent in Clondalkin village last September.
Over 50 submissions were made to South Dublin County Council in relation to the original proposal.
Residents were shocked when they were notified late last week that additional information requested by the council had been received late last week with the closing date for submissions on the plan set to close tomorrow.
Over 70 people attended an emergency meeting in the Laurels pub last night after it was advertised in a post on the Clondalkin Tidy Towns Facebook page.
The same post showed images of how the proposed build would look, which drew comments from locals describing it as a "monstrosity".
Another wrote: "Under no circumstances should this building be allowed to go ahead, totally out of place and time."
Last night's meeting was chaired by local councillor Breeda Bonner and Clondalkin Tidy Towns committee member Eoin O Broin.
Mr O Broin told Dublin Live that locals were unhappy with the short timeframe imposed for objections to be made to the altered plan.
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He said: "People received the letters telling them that the additional information had arrived and then they would either have to go to the planning office in Tallaght or go online to look at it."
At the meeting, Councillor Trevor Gilligan slammed the "sneaky and underhand manner" the second round of the planning application had occurred.
The amended proposal incorporates the smaller unit into the larger nursing home.
Mr O Broin, an Independent candidate in the upcoming local elections, said this did not significantly alter the size of the development, with locals voicing a number of other objections to the plan.
He said: "There's a number of aspects. It obstructs the view of the convent.
"It's got this brick finish which the planners in South Dublin really love and they've allowed lots of brick development around Clondalkin that is not in keeping with the old stone work.
"This is third nursing home which is being proposed in Clondalkin so some people are saying we already have enough of them.
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"There are traffic problems. At different times of the day the traffic is quite slow.
"Whatever developments come, people will be saying we have to get the traffic sorted. People will are saying we have enough nursing homes."
At last night's meeting, local ornithologist Daithí De Brun, described how a colony of Swift birds live in the cloisters of the church and would be threatened by the development.
Peter Kavanagh, who works for Active Retirement Ireland, added that the NGO have argued that alternatives to the nursing home model should be explored.
Local heritage groups also voiced their opposition to the plan.
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Mr O Broin said: "If we start with the History Society, for them this is the opposite of preserving the integrity of the old village and its character."
The closing date for submissions on the plan is Wednesday, May 8.
Anyone who has made an objection to the original plan can make a new observation without having to pay the €20 submission fee.
A spokeswoman for South Dublin County Council said the statuary deadline for submissions is 14 days rom the date of receipt of the additional information.
The council has no discretion to amend the deadline. The additional information was received by the council on April 25.
She added: "It should be noted that where additional information is received, the Council is obliged to inform any parties that have made a submission on the original application.
"Such correspondence issued to all interested parties on the 26 April."
