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CONFUSION STILL SURROUNDS the allocation of emergency funding to Clare County Council to repair infrastructural damage caused by storms in late 2013 and early 2014.
Junior Minister Simon Harris this morning re-stated the OPW’s position regarding Government funding for storm damage repairs in Co Clare, saying that a total of €16.8m has been allocated to the local authority.
Of this, Harris said that up to €8.276m has been earmarked specifically for repairs to damaged public coastal protection works, while the remainder is to be spent on damage to other public infrastructure “such as piers, harbours and roads”.
Addressing reports of poor communication between the OPW and local authorities on the issue of storm repairs, Harris said in a statement that his office had been in contact with the Clare authority on the issue:
My Office has an excellent working relationship with local authorities and continues to liaise with them on all the various schemes administered by this Office. There has been numerous exchanges of correspondence with the local authorities, including Clare County Council, in relation to the storm damage funding.
Harris added that it was “made clear to all local authorities that this funding was being made available for repair and not for the construction of entirely new coastal protection works.”
He also said that any decision to progress with “major capital works” requires planning and assessment and that his office will continue to work with Clare County Council “to ensure the best possible outcome”.
‘Awaiting clarification’
However, confusion still surrounds the funding allocation with regards to proposals made by Clare County Council to upgrade storm barriers and coastline defences instead of replacing or repairing the same structures that were damaged by the storm.
The senior engineer overseeing Clare County Council’s repair and restructuring programme, Tom Tiernan, told TheJournal.ie today that key elements of this programme are on hold until the council receives clarification from the OPW that its proposals can or cannot go ahead.
Tiernan said he could not respond to Harris’s comments today, as he was unaware that Harris had made a statement on the issue and the council is still awaiting notice that a decision has been made by the OPW concerning the council’s proposals.
The council has proposed a number of barrier strengthening projects along the coastal and quayside areas worst affected by the storms.
“If we had a bottom line regarding the total sum of money available to us, we would be finalising the programme of work,” the engineer explained.
Some of the allocated funding has already been used in repairs: “At this point of time, we have spent €3m of that original allocation and we have spent that effectively in clean-up, in relation to works that are necessary [under] the circumstances at the various tourism resorts to enable the ongoing tourist season to go ahead.”
Overall, however, Tiernan says the council is still waiting for further clarification from the OPW before it can actually finalise its repair projects as there is “no point” in repairing certain areas if they are actually going to be restructured:
The bottom line is that we have been notified to date of funding availability to €16.8m – our total estimate for all of the damage, including the strengthening requirements that we feel are pertinent, is €38m, so there’s vacuum there of €21m that we don’t know whether we’re going to be allocated all or part of it. So with a gap that wide, you’ll appreciate it is very difficult for us to conclude on a programme.
Responding to a query from TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for the OPW said that officials from the OPW and Clare County Council are meeting today to discuss matters further. Following today’s meeting, Minister Harris will hold further meetings with local residents and Oireachtas members in early September.
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Designate the Docklands as a high rise zone. Leave the Georgian parts of Dublin alone. Problem solved. Stop f****g about, Taisce. This needs to happen.
Was going to suggest exactly that, which automatically means your opinion is more right than the others.
Well said Peter. Agree totally. There is too many people with too much to say with our planning authorities. Just get on with the docklands
I second this motion!
It’s funny Peter, they don’t ever seem overly concerned about the Georgian parts of the city anyway. Rarely see them kick up a fuss over the state of the north inner city Georgian areas. They only ever seem bothers with the southside Merrion Square etc…..hmmmm!
Move Dublin Port to Drogheda and use that land to build a new city center, all proper high rise. Then grow up and put in a proper underground system.
Sadly our useless politicians have no vision
and don’t forget the intimate charm of o connell St with its lovely urban characters
They go on about the Georgian parts of Dublin, its a shame that most of those street are filthy and rundown. Most haven’t seen a lick of paint in 50 years and some have trees growing out of them and filthy windows. Dublin needs to start building up to stop the urban sprawl. The city should have designated areas for highrise and the docklands should be one of those areas. 25 years ago it was a rundown part of the city. Shame most of the land is now built on with 8 storey buildings
Not for this plan though. 28 metres is hardly “high-rise”. it’s only about 10 stories.
Guess nobody ‘suggesting’ the docklands as the designated high rise area actually lives here?
28 metres is not high rise. Even though I believe Dublin should go higher, the proposal is for only 28 metres (and city-wide, if I’m not mistaken). The only people suggesting that qualifies as high-rise are the nuts in Taisce
There is little ‘intimate charm’ in a 2 hour commute from a sprawling and soulless commuter belt development to work and back again which is reality for many people due to the past refusal to build higher in the city. Surely a city should first and foremost serve the needs of its people and allow them to live within its limits rather than keeping a few elitists happy as they want to to remain unchanged forever. Dublin needs to evolve with its citizens
Well said, and also we can keep the moderate heights in the heart of the city and the Georgian areas if we want while still building upways in the docklands. A skyline would only add to the aesthetic of the place anyway
Couldn’t agree more. Over 1h commuting, it’s simply a waste of time.
“A skyline would only add to the aesthetic of the place anyway”
This, the city has such a bland skyline, it’s the reason many people want to keep the Poolbeg towers.
An taisce must have been livid about that, but it’s their own fault.
we should build the tallest building in the world and give tourist more to go to other then the Guinness store house
The problem you talk about will only get worse when the population density in the city increases without proper transportation, build the support infrastructure first then let’s talk about increasing density
Land is scarce. Stop the urban sprawl. Upwards !
The only way is UP.
Yes!
I can’t believe I was once a member of An Taisce. It’s controlled by a bunch of D4 wannabe environmentalists who couldn’t give a toss about the development of a modern, functioning Dublin and Ireland.
Dublin needs to have a dense population and needs to control the sprawl out to the west and north.
It’s ironic, An Taisce don’t want thousands of acres of countryside ruined with sprawling housing estates and they don’t want proper high density development in the city. Morons.
Strict planning guidelines on space, light, rooftop gardens etc and let’s go up. They could also legislate for minimum maintenance and security!
There’s no easy answer. a carte blanche isn’t the answer. A controlled ana zoned area would be good like the docklands, but sticking one in the middle of merrion square isnt good.
They should let me plan it… I’m amazing at Sim-City! As long as the difficulty is set to Easy with no Godzilla attacks or tornados!
Or Residents’ Groups
@David, well, I think the possibility of a Godzilla attack on Dublin is remote, tornadoes could happen though, once in a while, so I think you should have a go at designing
And you’d need a builder that can construct buildings with proper fire safety and everything else done correctly. Seem to be precious few of those about in Ireland in recent times.
Brilliant. We build 2 story fire death traps so well that I can’t wait to see our 40 story plus towering infernos.
But hollywood will make a big blockbuster based on the disaster :)
its funny. we’re one of the only cities in the world without threats of natural disasters. ie earthquakes, tornados but yet we’ve not built all that high. 4storeys seems to be a tall building here!
Yes deffo. A mix of high rise and old dublin would be fantastic
Mega City One all the way…
Yes for crying out loud. The precious skyline, give be a break
High rise makes so much sense in commercial and residential living. Ok we can’t really compare Dublin to New York say as it’s apples and oranges. But take modern residential skyscrapers in New York today. They have big 2/3/4 bed apartments, on site gym, laundry, pool, grocery store at bottom. I know these are for the mega rich but then within a 2-3 block radius you got restaurants, bars, shops, a city park, schools etc etc.
The Ballymun project failed because the lack of services and policing and maintenance of lifts etc. In the US every building or co-op has a super which is the man who looks after the maintenance of the building from a stuck door lock to a light out in the stairwell. We need this approach to city living here.
18,000 residents per square mile in low rise Copenhagen. 11,000 per square mile in Dublin. Copenhagen doesn’t tower blocks to reach that density. It’s a 4 1/2 story city where people want to live. Maybe you need a higher minimum density for new development around the city so that it doesn’t have to sprawl.
And if Dublin’s anything like Belfast arterial routes that were once lined with houses now have vacant shops at ground level with empty space above while the council puts ever more parking restrictions along the roads to try to move people more efficiently from out of town rather than trying to reclaim the unused space in town. How much potential residential space is available and unused already?
Copenhagen also has a far better public transport infrastructure than Dublin
…and is a lot cleaner. And more cycle-friendly. In fact, it’s a nicer city all ’round.
Having a city that has an “innate charm” is all well and good for tourists (though the notion that tourists would be put off by high-rise in Dublin is a highly dubious proposition based on ZERO research), but so does Disneyland.
I think you’d quickly find it rather impractical living in Disneyland. Likewise, a city of 1~1.5 million occupying an area as large as Dublin and its attached suburbs in Kildare, Meath and Wicklow is absolute madness. It’s bad for house prices, it’s bad for urban planning, and it’s bad for the environment.
Paris’s skyline didn’t lose its “innate charm” because of its high-rise (did you even know it’s there, An Taisce? Amsterdam has high-rise too.). No matter how high you build, it will never be visible from every point in the city. Go around Taipei and see if you can see Taipei 101 from every point in the city. Further than 2km you’d never know it existed.
So sorry, An Taisce. You can eff off with your ill-informed, totally-unresearched nimbyist BS.
There’s no excuse not to go high rise. Even an aesthetically beautiful city like Paris has no issues with skyscrapers, they have them in the CBD district in La Defense. Simple, keeps the skyscrapers away from the really historic and beautiful areas. And many skyscrapers look fantastic, works of architectural genius. The Shard in London is fantastic looking.
If we won’t build proper infrastructure to address the ever increasing commuting from Leinster, we will have to start building higher. Obviously, we will have to ensure certain architects and developers aren’t involved in any future projects so as to avoid the insanity of Long Boat etc
There is quite a bit of unwanted intimate charm when you’re stuck on a steamy commuter bus for an hour. I’m not sure that’s what they are talking about however.
Commercial high rise buildings, yes of course, domestic high rise apartment buildings, not so sure. This will make living in Dublin even more expensive and compromise our quality of life. We are one of the few places in Europe and the world where most people live in houses, we have the precious space that everyone else would kill for. Never compare living in a house vs living in a flat.
Well… I wish I could live in a modern apartment, rather than in a cold house here… Fact is, I had no choice. Every tikme I was lookinf for an apartmente I was told: “You got kids? Don’t even bother to apply…”. Apartment is more energy efficient and space efficient.
I can tell there are plenty of peoole out there who;ll prefer a flat, rather than forced into a house.
Your house might be cold, mine is properly insulated. A building would have the same problem, we just don’t have many old flats, most flats in Dublin are new and are better insulated, but go anywhere in Europe and stay in a 40 year old flat and it would be as cold as your house. And insulating your house is an easy job, insulating your old flat would be a very expensive and maybe impossible task.
Mi parents in Italy live in a building built in the ’50s,
Thick 50cm wall on the perimeter, standard 15cm cement inside. We’d insulated just the windows with double-layer.
Obviously, no cardboard anywhere, and it’s a flat on a build of five floors.
Celilings 2.40 cm height.
I can tell you, is much more warm than here, even in winter. And no, they’re not living in a warm location. In fact, winters can be colder over there than here.
I grew up in a small apartment on the 5th floor, and always dreamt of having a garden to play in. Each to their own, I suppose.
Who are these an taisc clowns? ….The seem to treat this city as their own personal museum. A city should be a dynamic growing thing not a static relic protected from development. It’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s a small city with too much sprawl. We need to build up ams have a subway system ASAP not in 2027 as the idiots in government are planning
Most of Ireland was untouched landscape with so many wonderful buildings, With campaigns to save, modernise, redevelop no one really ever won we have bits and pieces all of the place.
What we need to do is stop all planning and with public input draw up new plans that develop growth, jobs, promote & preserve our history, provide better transport, services etc… Build a great new Ireland look what fellow Irish did for the rest the world that could be here.
What you need is a tyrannical architect overlord to tell you how its going to be everywhere. We’re even worse for wasting land up here than Dublin up here as everyone built new hoses out in places like Bangor and Lisburn when no-one wanted to live in Belfast. So the suburbs have more people than the city and we’ve two story social houses a couple of minutes walk from the City Hall.
For example if Belfast was as tightly packed as Barcelona we could fit the entire population of Northern Ireland in. They’ve 1.6M people in 39 square miles and this place has 44 square miles. And Barcelona’s grid system generally works – you can drive around a lot faster than in Dublin anyway.
Still so much dereliction – take a walk through the city – empty buildings, vacant floors above shops, redundant basements are all deserving of proper use before we go up and make a mess of it. Developer led planning a la Longboat Quay here we go again.
yes highrise is the way to go but maintenance must also be provided e.g. facade, lifts, security features etc. Unfortunately, this may entail maintenance/service changes for people but provided the charge is reasonable and accountable may halt the reappearance of a ballymun project.
The highest place I have ever done it is sixth floor
Time for ecofriendly high rise buildings. The only way is to build up.
When the sea rises, it will have too lol.
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