Fourteen householders whose homes will be overshadowed by the new 50,000-seater Lansdowne Road stadium are to receive €120,000 each in compensation from the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
The settlement is part of a €2.4 million compensation package yesterday agreed by Dublin City Council with the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company, the company formed by the IRFU to build the stadium.
The 14 householders are residents of O'Connell Gardens, a housing estate immediately to the north of the stadium.
Eight other residents of O'Connell Gardens, whose homes will be affected to a lesser degree by the work, will receive €32,500 each. A sum of €500,000 will be shared among other local residents in areas such as Havelock Square, Vavasour Square and the banks of the river Dodder.
In exchange the development company will be given a 999-year lease on a half-acre site owned by the council adjacent to the River Dodder.
The company will also undertake €1.5 million worth of improvement works to the Dodder Walk area and will also make an annual payment of €100,000, which will be index linked to a community gain fund.
The package is a substantial increase in what had been offered to residents in recent weeks.
Until yesterday, the best offer from the stadium development company had been €75,000 each for the O'Connell Gardens residents with no firm offer for residents in the surrounding areas.
It needed the sanction of councillors to build on the half-acre site and was under pressure to secure a deal if the new stadium was to meet development deadlines.
Councillors said last night that the compensation package was a good deal for residents. They added that it would go some way to alleviating the difficulties they would face as a result of the new stadium.
The agreement overcomes the last obstacle to the stadium redevelopment plan.
