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DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL (DCC) has warmly welcomed the redesignation of Dublin’s Poolbeg glass bottle site as a strategic development zone (SDZ).
The huge site, which measures 34 hectares in size, has been idle for many years after becoming one of the most high-profile victims of the economic crash.
With its new status, there is room on site for 3,000 new homes along with “a wider range of employment opportunities and social infrastructure such as schools”, according to DCC.
The council had asked the government to redesignate the land for development given the critical need for housing in the capital and the fact that the site hadn’t been put to any purpose for some time.
Bankrolled for development in the 2000s to the tune of over €410 million, the site was possibly the most high profile of all to be transferred to post-crash asset-management agency NAMA.
According to Dublin City manager Owen Keegan the redesignation of the site is an opportunity to build on the success of the nearby North Lotts and Grand Canal SDZ which has seen over 85% of its development blocks either approved or at pre-application consultation.
“The Poolbeg West SDZ is a fast-track mechanism which will enable the City Council to provide much needed housing in an extremely attractive area of the City close to many amenities,” Keegan said.
The redesignation of the site “clears the way for a range of opportunities including major residential development” according to Fine Gael’s Coveney.
“With the potential for up to 3,000 badly needed new homes close to employment and services, in addition there will be commercial and employment activities including, office, hotel, leisure and retail facilities – all of which will provide much needed jobs opportunities,” he said.
DCC will now work together with the two major stakeholders in the area, Dublin Port and NAMA, to advance the development of the land.
It is expected that a planning scheme will be in place by the end of the year.
The Green Party has welcomed the new SDZ, saying the move is ‘long overdue’.
“If the Government get this right, it has the potential to rival the great housing projects of the 1930′s,” party leader Eamon Ryan said in a statement.
It’s important that any development at the Glass Bottle Site delivers the right mix of commercial, housing and retail development.
We would like to see the Glass Bottle Site used as a test location for a new cost-rental model of social and affordable housing.
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He looks nothing like Liam Neeson!
Should this not have been state property since it was made ?
Not if it was made by his family.
And was it ?
Jaysus I couldn’t tell you, but I would imagine so if his grand-niece had it.
A true Irish hero
Poignant and creepy at the same time.
WTF is a death mask?
It’s a quaint little British execution ritual that was practical in the days before cameras, but was continued even after the advent of cameras, and which former British colonies such as Malaysia and Singapore still do today. When someone is executed, and as only a handful of officials are allowed to be present, a plaster cast of the executed persons face is made postmortem as proof that they had been executed, and could then be publicly displayed. I don’t know why one would have been made of Collins.
Would love to have seen it go to Collin’s barracks in Cork.
Yes he was a true son of Cork, until ye shot him.
@ Brian , that was sheer brilliance
Dev’s crowd shot him !
Lol, Brian :)
They should leave us at least keep the bullet then.
…but they were still from Cork!
A true irish warrior.alot of lives could of been saved had he not been killed
ffs gimme a break,what about having some respect for people who had a profound impact on our history without being so flippant,can’t you people take sometime out and be more informed,I hate stupid comments
Won’t be queuing up to see that, not even if it was Elvis’s!!
Free world is great! You actually don’t have too!
Dev set him up. COLLINS knew he signed his death warrant when he signed the treaty. He also knew the orange thugs of Carson et Al were armed to the teeth , British officers in Kildale were allowed not to engage loyalists forces and the blood thirsty Churchill made it very clear to Collins that not signing the treaty would result in huge deaths, mainly Catholic. It was a stepping stone and De Velera is no hero of mine. Using collins as a scapegoat. He only escaped execution in 1916 because he was American.
Michael Collins true Irish hero.
God rest him.
My daughters in the background pic
Béal na mBláth not Béal Na mBláth.
A hero……..also a ‘terrorist’ if he existed today. Just read the laws brought in recently. Red thumb this comment away but you know its true. This govt who lay wreaths at his grave, would all be screaming for his arrest. Because traitors wouldnt be around long if he was here.
Cop on. Terrorists . FFS. He got rid of the British terrorists and if that means shooting black and tans and the Cairo gang then that makes him a liberator of Ireland from British rule. War is not meant to be nice.
did you not get what i meant you complete idiot. Im highlighting the hypocracy of our govt who call him a hero while doing being complete traitors to this country. Are you one of those thickos who think loosing our soveignity is fine unless its to the british?
It wasn’t presented by Collins’ nieces, it was acquired for the visitor’s centre by Private Noel McDonnell. Helen Collins and Mary Claire O’Malley were just there to view it on the day.
Anybody care to explain WTF a death mask is?
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