PD plan for Poolbeg Peninsula unrealistic
Statement by Green Party Chairman and TD for Dublin South East John Gormley:
“The PD plan for a Manhattan-style skyline on the Poolbeg Peninsula is unrealistic. It ignores a number of crucial factors.
“No 1 – There is a total lack of transport infrastructure. This should be put in place now before any further development takes place on the Poolbeg Peninsula. Ideally a Luas link would run from the quays down to Poolbeg to cater for the huge increase in population.
“No 2 – The Poolbeg Peninsula, like Sandymount and Ringsend, is vulnerable to flooding and the Government’s own guidelines state that building should not take place within 100 metres of the shore.
“No 3 – It would be impossible for most people to live there because of the serious odour problem from the wastewater treatment plant. As a resident in the area I can testify to the fact that the smell is as bad as ever this week. Minister McDowell and the Fianna Fáil/PD government have refused to carry out an investigation into the problems at the plant.
“No 4 – The proposed incinerator would impact negatively on the potential development of the area. As the Green Party predicted, this plant is set to burn 760,000 tonnes of waste per annum, making it one of the largest mass burn incinerators in Europe. Again, the PDs and Minister McDowell promised in their election manifesto that no incinerator would be built. If it goes ahead, the traffic to and from the incinerator would make living in the area very unpleasant.
“There is no doubt that the Poolbeg Peninsula should be properly developed, but the PD proposal represents this Government’s typical lack of joined up thinking. It is yet another example of PD kite-flying.
“The Green Party made a major submission on the Poolbeg Framework Plan and we will also be publishing detailed plans for the PoolbegPeninsulaover the coming months.”
February 9th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Dear Mr Gormley TD
As a landscape Design student, it is part of my course that I investigate a public space. I am looking at Sean Moore Park, I have been studying the area for over 18 months as part of my thesis. I find it hard to believe that any housing would be built near the sewage works which is both noisy and smelly. I also find the apartments that were planned to be built beside Sean Moore Park ridiculous.
The natural beauty of the area is what brings me and alot of other visitors to the area. Such proposals would be ruinous to the unique ecology of the area. I have read the EIA of the Fabrizia Development and it seems that they ignore the very factors they highlight within it.
My other concern is the lack of security in Sean Moore Park coupled with the high degree of anti-social behaviour that occurrs. The mounding in the park creates a haven for drunks, drug dealers and users who can go about their business out of view from the main road ways.
As a designer it is the aim of my project to redesign the park to increase security, its attraction, its ecology and also its security. Mine is only in theory, I hope you can put pressure on those in power to do the same in reality.
Thank you
Enda Coughlan
BScLGD
Writtle College
April 8th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Mr Coughlan does not relise the importance of the berm or bank or mound, as a sea defence; it was constructed so that “Sean Moore Park” would be free from gales in winter time. Sean Moore Park was given in 1980 by Dublin Port Company to the people of Sandymount, to be held in fee simple, in perpetuity, in trust by DCC for the public. Unfortunately in 1987, the name of the park which had been Sandymount Beach Park, was changed to Sean Moore Park. It is the City dump with three feet of capping on it, it was never properly capped and is less aged than South Park in Galway, holding a mountain of garbage and industrial waste beneath to a depth of ten metres compressend, unregulated, unmonitored rubblish; it was finally closed, after years of well documented protest from Sandymount Residents, in 1979.
c.c. sandymount