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THE POOLBEG CHIMNEYS are set to be repainted this summer and will be maintained for the foreseeable future.
The ESB made the announcement today following the completion of a full condition survey of the structure of the landmark chimneys overlooking Dublin Bay.
Repainting of the red and white bands of the chimneys is due to get underway next month – weather dependent – and continue through September.
All works on the lower parts of the chimneys will take place in late spring 2025 once the weather improves after winter.
It’s thought that the last time the chimneys were fully repainted was around the turn of the century.
In 2021, the ESB warned that the foundations of the iconic chimneys were at risk due to the presence of sulphur at the base of the towers.
However, a spokesperson told The Journal that following the survey of the structure, the ESB is happy that that risk is no longer exists.
Over the last number of years, a maintenance programme has been implemented which has included chimney inspections, placing caps on the tops of both chimneys to minimise water ingress, and detailed engineering assessments of the foundations of both chimneys.
The ESB said the Poolbeg peninsula has been “a key strategic site for the nation’s energy” since electricity was first generated from coal at the Pigeon House station in 1902.
The red and white chimneys were built in the 1970s and used as part of the ESB’s gas turbine which provided electricity for half a million homes in Dublin.
The chimneys had an operational lifespan of 25 years. The associated power plants at Poolbeg ceased production about ten years ago and the chimneys were decommissioned in 2010.
The structures have become part of ESB’s new Poolbeg Energy Hub where some of the latest technologies that will support the future delivery of renewable energy, including batteries, green hydrogen and offshore wind will be deployed over the next decade.
ESB Executive Director, Generation and Trading, Jim Dollard: “While they are no longer in use, the Poolbeg Chimneys remain a well-known landmark for so many people and one of the most recognisable structures in Dublin.
“The Poolbeg peninsula where the chimneys are located is now home to our Poolbeg Energy Hub.
“Alongside the existing gas-fired turbine on the site, innovative technologies are being deployed onsite to support our delivery of renewable energy including batteries and in future, green hydrogen and offshore wind, demonstrating ESB’s commitment to a progressive transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2040.”
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Delighted to see that they are getting a bit of TLC. They are iconic and pretty much the only nice looking thing left in the city.
@Fiona Wyse: industrial wasteland. And you want preserve it. Insane.
@Jack B Quick: Ah here,”industrial waste land” you clearly don’t understand the importance of them from any angle……
@Paul O’Mahoney: Reminder of depressing years.
@Fiona Wyse: Nice??? There are toxic chimneys!
@Jack B Quick: Mad eh!? Dublins ‘culture’… Asbestos and Alcohol
Great news, as a Dub these have been part of our skyline for so long. Nice to see something being preserved for a change.
@Mary Cassidy: dreadful news. Our city is a cesspit and we should start changing that by ripping this garbage down.
@Jack B Quick: So we disagree, wow! But they’ll still be painted.
@Mary Cassidy: Cassidy: we disagree cos you’ve no taste and are mistaking nostalgia for beauty.
Would they be allowed in Paris? Rome? Washington?
They’ll fall down eventually grotesque eyesores that they are.
@Jack B Quick: Oh personal insults now. Just relax, they’ll be there long after you’re gone. Try to enjoy life.
@Mary Cassidy: One more time, probably.
@Mary Cassidy: gewan Mary.
@Mary Cassidy: sadly true. The lack of class
Is all pervasive – if it weren’t Dublin wouldn’t be such a kip.
Brilliant news! They will shine brightly now
Waste of paint!!! Knock them down!!
@den: you are a waste of text characters.
@den: They are an iconic part of the Dublin skyline. I love seeing them when flying into Dublin. They are well worth preserving. We waste money on a lot sillier projects
@Patrick MC Dermott: nothing of the sort. Industrial waste and nothing more.
@Patrick MC Dermott: They will come down soon. The sooner the better actually. It’s a bit like Biden, got to go, making space for something new.
@smatrix mantra: The ‘fear changers’ wont be happy.
A waste of money in my opinion. Who is paying for it? The electricity users in this country so all of us.
@Joe O’ Hara: I pay for lots of things with my taxes that I don’t get any use of, namely child benefit, back to school allowance etc so at least I get to look at something pretty with this.
@Fiona Wyse: I’m sure I paid for the Spire in O’Connell st in some way or another. Now that should be pulled down. There’s nothing positive I could say for a stainless steel needle in the middle of a thoroughfare.
@Patrick MC Dermott: the stilleto in the ghetto!
@Fiona Wyse: and these grotesque eye sores are two significant factors in why the city is a ghetto.
@Jack B Quick: eh no, it’s more the actions of the people who frequent the area, both local and imported.
@Fiona Wyse: the buildings are a reflection of the people. Who do you think approved and builds them? Robots?
Dublin is a squalid filthy hole. We need to start changing that
@Jack B Quick: how on earth are buildings a reflection of people. Buildings are just that buildings, some are aesthetically pleasing and some are not. Some people choose to make alterations to their buildings in order to make them look aesthetically pleasing. Some do not.
So once again I say the power is with the people.
Or in this instance, Poolbeg.
@Patrick MC Dermott: The Spire is art. The chimneys industrial wasteland.
@Jack B Quick: Start by buying people like you a one way ticket out of this country.
@Fiona Wyse: @Fiona Wyse: it’s quite simple. They’re commissioned by people, using people to design them, then they receive planning approval from people, are built by people and ultimately used by people.
Update,the lads have arrived but they say they are going to need a bigger ladder.
It’s just a matter of time before they are gone. There is a steel structure inside the concrete. This rusts and expands over time, even while encased. The concrete will eventually start falling off in chunks, the steel will fracture and disappear once exposed to the salt air. The entire structure will be unsafe and due to the construction method, irreparable.
Our natural environment is being chipping away at everyday in the name of ‘progress’ and next to nothing is done about it or spent on it. Suggest removing 2 industrial chimneys (that have already cost millions to maintain) and there’d be riots.
What hope is there?
@Ronan Mc: Are you the modern day Nostradamus.? The guy that predicted the end of the world about a million different times. Everything will fall sometimes. That’s the way with things on earth. Even you, will be no more than someone’s distant ancestor, some day. But let’s enjoy what we now have.
@Patrick MC Dermott: You don’t have to be Nostradamus to know how a mass concrete construction ages and fails.
@Ronan Mc: Yes. But that’s not a valid reason to knock them down beforehand. Even old turf burning power stations are a living reminder to future generations of how we lived in Ireland. Let’s not destroy everything that has ceased to be useful.
@Patrick MC Dermott: They cost a fortune to maintain, money better spent elsewhere and are going to fall down anyway. Delaying the inevitable is costing millions of euro.
@Patrick MC Dermott: We n the contrary. Let’s.
Let’s systematically wipe out every revolting blight on our city and landscape starting with these filthy chimneys, moving onto the SIPTU
Building, doubling city council, aras Ui dalaigh – every revolting example of our lack of class and taste until Dublin is in fact a beautiful city to live and visit.
There is absolutely no value in clinging to the landmarks of an impoverished past.
@Patrick MC Dermott: So put a piece of chimney in the museum for those interested learning more about how Generation Chimney polluted the world.
@Ronan Mc: ‘progress’… the best magic trick ever played
Described at the time they where to be built. as a two finger insult to the people of Dublin. Now they are “Iconic.”
Great news. Could be the new hipster part of Dublin with a few bars and restaurants.
@D White: Well until the area floods with global warming lol. But yes it could be a really cool place for some bars etc.
Lipstick on a pig. I really struggle to understand the fascination with them.
They have the potential to be properly iconic.
Currently an eyesore.
Poolbeg was originally oil-fired.
It was converted to gas in the early 80s after the discovery of the Kinsale gas field. Dublin housing was also connected to this gas field, with many a road being dug up for new gas pipes.
(As were other towns and cities, such as Limerick.)
Can the author of this piece explain “The chimneys had an operational lifespan of 25 years. The associated power plants at Poolbeg ceased production about ten years ago and the chimneys were decommissioned in 2010.”
The chimneys were decommissioned 4 years before the power generation plant?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: When it was converted to gas, the original chimneys were no longer required.
@Paul Murphy: Why not?
The oil was burned to a very high efficiency, with no black smoke.
Same as gas.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Except that burning oil is the opposite of efficiency. Marginally better than peat perhaps, but still highly inefficient.
Could they not paint them in the Pride colours instead of just Red and White.
@noel donohue: the only other colour that they could ever be painted in are the Dublin colours so sorry get out of here with that idea!
@noel donohue: Why do that? The colours are fine as they are (once completed), and no one group being represented to the exclusion of others. They are a waypoint into Dublin, representative of its people, regardless of race, colour, or creed.
@Fiona Wyse: Correct, look good in blue. With Up the Dubs on the side. Drive the country, boys and girls, wild..
@Michael O’Brien: if I won the EuroMillions it’s the first thing I would do, it would be completely ridiculous but my god it would be hilarious!!
@Fiona Wyse: The Dublin Colours are fierce ugly though.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Nonsense they are lovely lol, nice and calming blues.
@Fiona Wyse: They look like an accident in a washing machine.
@noel donohue: Pilots prefer red and white. Which brings up another issue, they are an aviation hazard.
@smatrix mantra: if there’s a plane coming in past ringsend and clontarf at 700 feet. I reckon the hazard already exists.
@noel donohue:
Why the phuck would we do that ???
It’s utterly pointless now but idiosyncratic and the best/only tall building Dublin has. Preserve it! As an aside- There will have to be more tall stuff at some point. No other Capital does low rise, urban sprawl quite like Dublin. We will run out of space/fields at some point. A 3D future for Dublin?
@Derick R M: you’d be the guy saying we should preserve the Springfield tyre fire.
You rip down grotesqueness and replace it with something worth seeing. It’s simple
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