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OVER THE LAST fortnight, Fora has been taking a look at some of the more notable big-ticket projects that were floated in the run up to the Celtic Tiger and in the aftermath of its demise.
In the most recent article, we took a look at a proposed €175 million ‘Chinatown’ trading hub in Athlone.
Today we’re looking at a slightly less outlandish, but still out-there, proposal – to build a Las Vegas-style ‘super casino’ on the outskirts of Tipperary.
What is it?
Businessman Richard Quirke, one of the country’s richest men, took a shine to Two-Mile Borris, a small town in Tipperary near his native Thurles.
Quirke, well-known for his ownership of Dr Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium in Dublin, was looking to develop a ‘super-casino’ near the town.
The original plans were nothing if not ambitious. They included provisions for (deep breath now), all-weather racecourse and greyhound tracks, an equestrian centre, a full-size replica of the White House, a casino, a 500-bedroom hotel and a golf course on an 800-acre development.
That’s not to mention a car park with almost 6,000 spaces and a landing pad for helicopters, with a couple of bars, restaurants and shops thrown in for good measure.
It was estimated that the project, dubbed the ‘Tipperary Venue’, would cost about €460 million to complete, would employ up to 2,000 people when finished and would help bring in rich tourists.
When was it first suggested?
It was first granted planning permission by North Tipperary County Council in October 2010, and it was hoped that construction would start in 2011.
What happened?
The project ran into trouble almost immediately when its was opposed by some local residents and conservation body An Taisce, which said that it is “ill-conceived” and added that its location would require the redirection of 750m of river waters.
After an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the planning body gave the casino the go-ahead in June 2011. But it ran into trouble again almost immediately after the government announced plans to overhaul Ireland’s gambling laws.
The new bill was set to introduce a number of new proposals, one of which would have blocked large, resort-style casinos.
Then-justice minister Alan Shatter later clarified that the number of tables proposed for the Tipperary complex would be deemed beyond the numbers allowed under the new legislation.
The bill was finally published in 2013, with Shatter clarifying again that it would block the Two-Mile Borris development. This drew the ire of controversial TD Michael Lowry, a champion of the casino, which was set to be built in his political stronghold.
What’s the latest?
Quirke had quietly applied for, and in 2013 was granted, planning permission for a redesign of the project that would focus more on the sporting side of the development, expanding on areas such as the equestrian centre.
There was also a concept video uploaded to YouTube a few months ago. The video said that the facility would be able to hold the World Equestrian Games.
The video also mentioned that the development would feature a 6,000 sq m casino, which would likely be too large if the government’s new gambling legislation was passed.
Quirke appears to still be keen on the project. Dublin Pool and Juke Box Ltd, a company used for the businessman’s arcade activities, said in its most recent accounts, to the end of June 2015, that it is “continuing to purchase land and properties in order to develop a casino and leisure complex in Tipperary”.
However, it still faces difficulty in the form of the government’s proposed gambling legislation.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice told Fora that the government intends to proceed with the new gambling legislation “at the earliest feasible opportunity”.
He added that the Minister of State has asked the department of justice to examine any possible areas of concern in the bill in the new year.
“This will be augmented by the completion of the more complex work on the main bill for government approval and publication later during 2017,” he said.
Asked specifically whether there is a possibility that the Tipperary casino could go ahead under the new legislation, he said in a statement: “The General Scheme of the Gambling Control Bill makes specific provision for the licensing of modest-sized casinos (emphasis his).”
We put in queries to Lowry and O’Connell Mahon, the architects on the project, but haven’t heard anything back as of yet. We’ll make sure to keep an eye on the project, and whether there is ever any sign of either the casino or the equestrian centre taking shape.
Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie
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While not in any way religious, it’s a step forward. There are people who are religious and gay and it might allow them to be more authentic to who they are innately without shame.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Kind of ironic that alot of priests are gay yet they are told to disapprove gay marriage, how could you be part of an organisation that represses what you are
@CP: Whether clergymen are homosexual or heterosexual is actually irrelevant – the point is, they have to be celibate.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin:
Studies suggest at best 50% of the clergy are celibate. So long as it’s between consenting adults, no big deal.
@P.J. Nolan: which studies? Very interesting if true.
@CP: being celibate is repressing who you are regardless of your orientation.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: and the moon is made of cheese
It’s not uncommon for gay people to be religious, this is a good news story
As one in a same-sex marriage and long time atheist/heretic, I could give a donkey’s long one what the church says I can and can’t do. Nothing but a huge crowd of hypocrites anyway.
@Wicked Hedgehog: no offence but isn’t that kinda totally irrelevant….like I abhor gambling but I love watching the footie
@Ken Mc Carthy: But are your day to day actions and lots of legal standings based on what The Hypocrites say/believe? They’re saying that the sacrament of marriage is only between a man and a woman and a this belief spills into many inheritance, adoption, surrogacy laws. Who are They to start dictating play? I don’t believe in any of the Sky Fairy nonsense. Separation of church and state is what we’re talking about.
@Wicked Hedgehog: you obviously do care as it triggered you enough to make a very intense response. It may not mean anything to you but it does to many others in your community. Happy Christmas to you and your partner.
I’m gay and I do not want approval from a religious institution that believes I’m “fundamentally disordered”. Why would I even want it?
What’s next? Blessing butt plugs at midnight mass?
@Ray Farrell: There are certain sacrifices that come with being gay, such as being a member of the Catholic Church. Too many want to have their cake and eat it – even if it means rewriting scripture.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: I don’t think you’re gay at all, you’re just trolling
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: it was never in the scripture in the first place
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: To what scripture are you referring ?
@GVR: No, I’m gay AND I’m trolling.
@Boris Blank: Are you daft? The terms ‘gay’, ‘homosexual’ and ‘same-sex’ don’t appear in the Bible, but there are clear references to homosexuality.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: no condemnation, so no rewriting of any scripture, if you’re going to troll, at least do it properly
@Ronan Meagle: Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.”
@Boris Blank: Maybe your interpretation of “sodomite” is different? I don’t think it’s limited to homosexuals, but it probably includes them. At least the Catholic Church thinks so.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: So: female prostitutes and gays who don’t do an*l are ok? Straight people who do an*l not ok? Got it
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: so, nothing to back up your claims? Thought as much
@GVR: Strictly speaking, sodomy is any non-copulatory sexual act. You can choose whatever orifice you like.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: serious? So no B j ‘s then, even? We’re all doomed so
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: so many rules
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: Christianity is in the part of the bible called the New Testament, with the Jewish back-story in the Old Testament.
If you are a follower of the Old Testament then you are practicing Judahism.
Or a corrupt form of it.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin: imagine how bejewelled and magnificent a papal cock ring must be!
@Jimmy Wallace: The 10 Commandments give the laws of Christianity.
There is no prohibition of homosexuality in those.
Further, from the gospel of Matthew:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Odd that the commandments in the Bible should be so specific about things like “Thou shalt not covet”, but make no mention about homosexuality.
If it was in any way important, then it would be there.
And as this Jesus chap didn’t make any mention of it either, but was so upset at money lending in the temple, then we can only assume he didn’t have an issue with it either.
@Jimmy Wallace: The history of Christianity is…
fascinating.
Those that research/investigate such things fall into two camps:
1) Those that believe that the Jesus character is pure fiction
2) Those that believe the Jesus character is a conglomeration of various others
Putting that aside for the moment, somehow a religious cult began and spread to become a worldwide religion.
And those that follow Christianity (generally) have no clue about the history of their religion. (If they did, they would be unlikely to remain Christians.)
The very first split in the Christian movement – according to its own history – came between (Simon) Peter and Paul (Saul). According to the Bible, Jesus said to Simon that he would be the leader of Christianity after his own death. Simon would be the rock (Greek, peter) upon which he would build his church.
But there arose a huge dispute between (Simon) Peter and Paul (who was Saul) which Saul won. And the church is known as the Pauline church as a result. By any accounting the Christian church is therefore not the Church of Jesus (Greek, The Christ), but that of Paul.
A second major split occurred with the directive of Constantine, who decreed that a single text – which became the Bible – should be created that would contain the teachings of Christianity. What had long been oral history and teachings were to be compiled into this one book. Two major camps arose, which became the Western (Roman) and Eastern (Greek) churches, with the major difference between them being the divinity of Jesus (which had not been claimed until that point).
There were further splits, with the next most major in the Western church leading to the Protestant movement.
But the entire thing rests on a foundation laid by Judahism.
And who were the Jews, and how did their religion come to be what it was (is)?
The people who came to be known as Jews were Caananites/Phoenicians living on the coast who migrated inland to the hills west of the river Jordan. They brought their Caananite gods with them. Over time, they made one of these gods – the Caananite god of war – more and more powerful, and ultimately their one supreme god, which they wrote as Yhwh, and later Jehova, and which Christians with great conceit call God.
(Note that the Bible does not claim that this god is the only god, despite what Christians may claim. Indeed, the Bible specifically claims the opposite – that there are other gods.)
The Christian Bible is made of 2 parts – the New Testament which details Christianity, and the Old Testament which gives the Jewish back-story.
Any reasonable reading of the Old Testament would clearly show that its claims are a nonsense.
The Old Testament is, in essence, a story of a good guy versus a bad guy.
The Bible makes the claim that the Yhwh/Jehova character is the good guy and another character is the bad guy.
The Old Testament then goes on to list all the evil done by the good guy – from mass murder, to ecocide, to little individual acts of cruelty.
And what is the evil done by the bad guy, according to the Bible? To try to bring knowledge to mankind.
Put that in front of a jury in any court of law and the Yhwh/Jehova/God character would clearly be labelled as the bad guy.
But that is just a very brief accounting of the nonsense that is the foundation of the Abrahamic religions – the nonsense that such a large number of people believe and allow to run their lives, the nonsense that has been used to cause so much suffering.
@Antóin Ó Cumamothóin:
That’s everyone I know!
So it possible now but not before. What a joke of a religion
@had the same problem with them here: you’re only realising they’re a joke now?
@Wicked Hedgehog: You cared enough to presumably read the article and then evidently post a comment. Quite a strange remark you made.
The Catholic Church was infiltrated decades ago.
the end!
@Bass Boss: Amen!
@Bass Boss:
And the Catholic Church moves into the twentieth century
People speaking of scripture when at best they may have spent a couple of hours in their whole life reading it. They say Christ never spoke of who should marry whom, here is what Christ said, Matthew 19:4-9, pay attention to the use of the words male and female. Rome as is their unbiblical practice ignore biblical doctrine and follow the teachings of men, Matthew 15:8-9, another passage in relation to blessing same sex practice is found in first Corthians 6:9-11, for those who don’t care what the scriptures say fine. But don’t pretend to be an authority on it.
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