HILTON International has denied any intention of "walking away" from Dublin if it fails to win approval for the controversial five-star hotel it plans to build near College Green.
On the first day of a Bord Pleanala oral hearing on the £35 million project, senior representatives of the company said Dublin would still be of interest to them even if permission was refused for this scheme.
An Taisce and the developers, Treasury Holdings, are appealing against a decision by Dublin Corporation - following a vote by the City Council - to grant permission for the development on a triangular site bounded by College Street, Westmoreland Street and Fleet Street.
An Taisce's case is that the proposed hotel would be too high and would also involve the demolition of several listed buildings.
The developers are appealing against some of the conditions laid down by the corporation which would reduce the hotel's size to 122 bedrooms.
Mr Clive Hillier, vice-president of Hilton International in the UK, told the hearing that his company operated 163 hotels in 45 countries, with 20 more at various stages of development.
It regarded Dublin as an economically secure "gateway city" to Europe, especially for business travellers from North America. A Hilton hotel in the city would be linked to a worldwide reservation and marketing system, as well as benefiting from the company's "long established pedigree".
Mr Hillier said College Street was the right location for the project, because it was "within the grain and structure" of the city. The architectural issues it raised had all been dealt with in other Hilton schemes, such as those in Antwerp and Langham Place, beside the BBC in London.
He told the presiding inspector, Mr Karl Kent, it was "fundamental" to the company's relationship with Treasury Holdings that the Hilton planned for Dublin would have a minimum of 160 bedrooms. Otherwise, it would not have the "critical mass" needed to be economically viable.
Mr Rudi Jaegersbacher, also a vice-president of Hilton International in the UK, said the company was "extremely keen to come to this town", but it would "walk away from this [project] tomorrow" if it did not get planning permission.
"We will not come here if we can't make a profit," he declared, adding that 170 to 175 bedrooms was the minimum Hilton would settle for.
Asked by An Taisce to explain the discrepancy in the "bottom-line" figures they had cited, Mr Hillier said there was "no simple magic number" for bedrooms in a hotel while Mr Jaegersbacher said most Hilton hotels had 250 rooms, with only two having fewer than 170.
He also revealed that Hilton had been "putting pressure" on Treasury Holdings to release a proportion of the office space which AIB would occupy on the first floor of the hotel.
An Taisce has also appealed to the bank to review its plans. But Mr Hillier said Hilton had been "given to understand that AIB cannot concede any more space. But even if it did, the hotel is so short of conference rooms that any extra space would go to that, rather than to more bedrooms".
Mr Frank Benson, planning consultant for the developers, pointed out that An Bord Pleanala had granted planning permission in 1993 for a major office development on the site, which would involve the demolition or alteration of an equivalent number of listed buildings.
He stressed that, as part of its agreement with AIB, Treasury Holdings would be legafly obliged to start building the office scheme "within two weeks" of an unfavourable planning decision on the hotel project. This scheme would provide more than 100,000 sq ft of offices on the site.
Mr Dermod Dwyer, a tourism consultant, detailed the "phenomenal" increase in Dublin's visitor numbers over the past few years and said the proposed Hilton would be a "strategic fit" for the city, matching tourism policy and the IDA drive to turn Dublin into a business centre.
The hearing continues today.
