Christchurch Residents' Association has lost its bid to overturn planning permission for the retention of a Portakabin to the rear of Adam and Eve Church on Merchants Quay Ireland's (MQI) premises in Dublin's city centre - which runs a homeless and drug users support service.

Christchurch Residents' Association appealed to An Bord Pleanála on the grounds there is "an intensification of use" of the site due to the growing volume of clients - from 3,707 in 1993 to 39,212 in 2002.

The association claims the area "suffers" from anti-social behaviour "associated with the facilities" and there is no attempt "to control the behaviour of their clients outside the site". It says MQI refuses to hand over CCTV footage of anti-social behaviour to the gardaí .

The MQI site comprises a number of single-storey buildings and the Portakabin in questions is not visible from the street.

MQI responded that the appeal was not relevant to the development seeking retention. It said the Portakabin is used to ascertain the needs of callers. It said a storage bin for used needles is kept on site and collected weekly by the Health Board and added "this is not a planning matter".

A Bord Pleanála inspector said that while there might be some validity to the appellants' argument that there is an intensification of use , "this is an issue that must be decided by the planning authority, through the Section 5 referral process to An Bord Pleanála. This issue is beyond the scope of this appeal, which is limited to the question of retention of a Portakabin and a CCTV mast."

He said the Portakabin is not visible from outside the site, either on Cook St, Winetavern Street or from the rear of Adam and Eve Church. Planning permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála to retain the Portakabin for five years .