The living quarters were renovated in 1964 and retain little of their historic fabric.

In the 1980s and 1990s, greater efforts were made to preserve Dublin's historic fabric.

Speaking of the plan, he said, "I think care has been taken to minimize the impact on the island's historic fabric."

"We've lost so much historic fabric because the law just doesn't have any teeth," she said.

One spectacle is the historic fabric of the city itself.

"Sometimes it's lovingly restored on the inside, and other times you see all of the historic fabric just ripped out."

Some of the historic fabric will be changed, however.

Mergie is in an area of significant prehistoric and historic fabric.

"Besides, I think that's selling the notion of historic fabric pretty short if it can be destroyed by one business."

The country is "losing a lot of historic fabric," he said.