Could one of the biggest Dublin land portfolios be edging closer to a sale?

With planning permission now granted — and no sign of an appeal — the new €27M northern city council depot at Ballymun is heading toward a start on site. And the result will be the sale of a large portfolio of city council sites.

Now Labour politicians have called on Ministers to intervene to prevent the sale of land which they say could ease the capital's housing shortage.

The central sites which could be sold include the prime Marrowbone Lane site in the Liberties along with:

• Slaney Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11.

• Aldborough Parade, North Strand, Dublin 3.

• Orchard Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.

• Portland Row, Dublin 1.

• Coleraine Street, Dublin 1.

• Broombridge Road, Cabra, Dublin 1.

• Bannow Road, Cabra, Dublin 7.

Outside the city centre they include Collins Road, opposite the Dublin City University campus, and land at industrial estates such as Ballymun Industrial Estate, the Newtown Industrial Estate in Coolock and the North Ring Business Park in Santry.

At Ballymun planning permission has been granted for 58K SF of industrial space, a 53K SF office building and 128K SF of car parking at a site at Ballymun. The super depot plan has been under consideration since at least 2016.

"The Depot Consolidation Project involves the rationalisation of existing depots into two main locations servicing the city, providing greatly enhanced staff facilities, achieving efficiencies through sharing of facilities and enabling the release of existing depot lands for more appropriate uses," the city council said.