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Seaplane base for Lough Derg approved

Colin Broderick — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:32:47 +0000

It has been quiet a while due to way too much work in college but from todays IrishTimes, Gordon Deegan writes:

A NEW base for seaplanes on the River Shannon at Lough Derg was approved yesterday by An Bord Pleanála.

The board rejected appeals against the proposal from An Taisce and Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

Local anglers and residents had also appealed Clare County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the the base at Mountshannon.

The base is to form part of a network of facilities by Harbour Flights Ireland Ltd for a seaplane service around the country.

Yesterday, Harbour Flights chief executive Emelyn Heaps said he was delighted with the decision, and hopes to start flying tourists in next year.

Mr Heaps said the base at Mountshannon is just one location from which the seaplane service will operate, with other locations at Foynes, Limerick city, Galway city, Inishmore, Cobh, Waterford and Dublin.

In its ruling yesterday, the appeals board gave the project planning approval after finding the proposal would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity; would not give rise to creation of a traffic hazard; would not be prejudicial to public health, and would not have significant effects on the Natura 2000 site – Lough Derg (Shannon) Special Protection Area. In its appeal, Inland Fisheries Ireland stated a plan to locate an airport on Lough Derg with aircraft coming in at high speed would pose a risk to anglers, fisheries staff and other boat users.

The IFI, incorporating the former Shannon regional fisheries board, argued the construction of an airport on the lake would be an infringement of the fishing rights or property rights on the lake.

The director of the Shannon River Basin District at the IFI, Seán Ryan, told the appeals board: “These property rights have to be defended in a clear and constructive manner . . . Anglers must have unrestricted access to the fisheries so that they are able to enjoy fishing rights throughout the lake. These rights as a consequence need to be protected.”

In its appeal, An Taisce heritage officer Ian Lumley argued: “The proposal would constitute a public safety risk, in particular an accident risk through interface with other boating users of Lough Derg in particular.”

However, Mr Heaps said: “The objectors have achieved nothing and have managed only to hold up the plan for one year, and that means delayed jobs and delayed tourists for the area.”

He added: “We have had a welcome in all of the other areas, but what we got in Mountshannon were signs saying ‘Get off our lake’.”

IrishTimes

Westmeath’s gateway plan disappeared in the Tullingathlone triangle

Colin Broderick — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:34:14 +0000

Boom-time plans to turn Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar into a gateway for economic development met with limited success, writes FRANK McDONALD

IT WAS at the edge of Rochfortbridge that the future direction of Dublin’s sprawl first became evident in the mid-1990s. Exactly 80km from the capital, housing estates were materialising on the outskirts of this Co Westmeath village to cater for first-time home buyers who had been squeezed out of the property market in Dublin.

They hit the road early, between 6.30am and 7am every weekday to commute to jobs in or around the city, leaving the estates eerily devoid of most signs of life. A survey in 2001 by transition-year students at the local secondary school found that 80 per cent of the new residents were from Dublin and were commuting to work there.

It was a harbinger of things to come in Westmeath and elsewhere in Commuterland, a trend that local councillors sought to cater for by rezoning land for more housing – whatever the plans, or the planners, had to say. Landowners on the outskirts of other villages, including at least one councillor, felt they were entitled to a share of the spoils.

But the experience of Rochfortbridge “came very early and quickly, and happened so fast. It was an eye-opener for county planners, officials and even councillors”, as one senior planner said, off the record. “There was a fear of other places being engulfed in the same way — and that’s why it didn’t happen in Delvin, Killucan or Tyrellspass.”

It was clear to the planners that extensive rezonings around villages in Co Westmeath threatened to undermine the National Spatial Strategy’s goal of turning Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar (ATM) into a “gateway” for economic development. None of these three towns is particularly large, and they needed all the help they could get.

The regional planning guidelines, drafted in 2004, forecast that “by 2020, the midlands will be a successful, sustainable and equitable region full of opportunities for its expanded population”. It recommended driving forward with the triangular ATM gateway, while not neglecting Longford and Portlaoise as principal towns.

Although there was strong population growth in the midlands, second only to the greater Dublin area, most of this was driven by migration from the capital, as Forfás pointed out in a regional competitiveness report. It also differs from most other regions in not having a single dominant urban centre to drive economic development.

Forfás wanted to see the Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar gateway “accelerated” by an inter-agency implementation forum, but it said the government’s decision to “defer” the €300 million Gateway Innovation Fund, announced in June 2007, was a setback, and its reinstatement was “a matter of priority for progressing the linked-gateway concept”.

On the plus side, there is now a Midlands Gateway Chamber of Commerce, drawing together business interests in Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar with the aim of developing a “world-class knowledge-based competitive gateway”, in line with the recommendations of a strategic development analysis by Indecon economic consultants.

As Brian Cowen said when he launched the report in December 2006, the real challenge facing the midlands was to generate “self-sustaining rather than commuter-led growth”. But he cautioned that “thriving, dynamic and expansive urban growth centres are not summoned out of the ground by a wave of the magic wand of central government”.

Indeed not. However, the withdrawal of a funding pot for innovative projects in the region was a real kick in the teeth, especially for the rather nebulous ATM. And it was competing for money with eight other “gateways” to finance projects with a cumulative value of €720 million – more than double what was on offer. In the end, they all got nothing.

One of the projects that the Midland Railway Action Group expected to be included was the reopening of a line between Athlone and Mullingar, which was closed in 1987. But Westmeath county manager Danny McLoughlin maintained that this project – costed at €170 million by Iarnród Éireann – didn’t fulfil the Gateway Innovation Fund criteria.

Against the backdrop of the economic downturn, as Westmeath Independent editor Tadhg Carey noted, “there has been little momentum behind the plans to have this rail line reopened”. One of the stumbling blocks was that 20 per cent of the funding (€34 million) would have to have been sourced locally, which seems impossible now.

In the meantime, roads forged ahead. The most recent was the N6 Kilbeggan-Athlone dual carriageway, opened in July 2008. This 29km stretch of the Dublin-Galway route, built for €280 million, finally bypassed Moate, the scene of endless tailbacks over the years, and cut travelling time between the two cities by 45 minutes.

It was the gradual replacement of the N4/N6 by a dual carriageway from Dublin to the Shannon and beyond that drew Co Westmeath into the commuter belt. Indeed, then county council cathaoirleach Joe Whelan described the new Kilbeggan- Athlone route as “another step in bringing the midlands and the west closer to the capital”.

Mullingar got a slice of Dublin in 2003 with the completion of Market Point, on the Royal Canal bank close to the town’s railway station. The apartment blocks, up to five storeys high, were aimed at buy-to-let investors availing of Section 23 – the juicy tax incentive that inflated the property bubble because it was kept going so long.

Athlone even got an 11-storey “signature tower” as the centrepiece of a new shopping centre just off the main street. It contains a 160-bedroom hotel. The scheme, designed by Murray O’Laoire Architects (now in liquidation), also includes 70 retail units and 148 apartments or townhouses, laid out around courtyards.

The opening of Athlone Town Centre in 2007 put paid to plans for a major expansion of the more remotely located Golden Island centre, built by Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan with the benefit of urban-renewal tax incentives – granted in December 1994 by Albert Reynolds’ government during its last hours in office.

An Bord Pleanála approved its expansion, including a 92-bedroom hotel, five large retail outlets totalling 36,600sq ft and a 550-space multi-storey car park in 2003 – two years before the shopping centre, which is in the River Shannon’s floodplain, was sold to Tesco. The planning permission has since expired.

Athlone’s development was “leaking all over the place” during the boom years, as one planner said, and in November 2009 it was one of the areas hit by serious flooding. Water levels at Athlone Lock, near Golden Island, rose by nearly a metre above the highest level on record, and 35 families had to be evacuated.

But the town acquired an impressive new Civic Centre, designed by Keith Williams Architects to provide a “one-stop shop” for all county and town council services, and completed in 2004 at a cost of €17 million. More recently, the county council moved into a new headquarters in Mullingar, designed by Bucholz McEvoy Architects.

In a sign of the times we live in, a well-located commercial site of five acres in Athlone that had an asking price of €5 million in 2006 is now on the market for €1.25 million – 75 per cent less than its peak value. And a major urban renewal project in Mullingar, in which the county council is a partner, has been “put on hold” due to funding problems.

Irish Times

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The IT Friday Interview – Power behind EirGrid

Colin Broderick — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:23:24 +0000

THE FRDAY INTERVIEW – Dermot Byrne chief executive, EirGrid: THE VISTA from Dermot Byrne’s Ballsbridge office is dominated by the spectacular curvilinear construction that is the new Aviva stadium.

Instead of enjoying this remarkable view as he works, however, the EirGrid chief executive has angled his desk to face a wall adorned with a stark black-and-white sketch that could only be considered beautiful by an electrical engineer.

He explains that the tangle of lines is an artist’s impression of the power plant at the Coolkeeragh power station in Derry, which he once managed during his tenure with ESB. One senses that it’s the nuts and bolts of the electricity game that really fires the Dubliner’s imagination.

“For an industry that’s been around for over 100 years, it still succeeds at being very exciting and very dynamic,” he says.

As a young electrical engineering graduate in 1973, his choice of potential employers was limited to ESB and the Department of Posts and Telegraphs (a former incarnation of Eircom). Byrne’s smile as he recounts this defining decision suggests he doesn’t regret his career choice.

After joining the State-owned energy company, he rose through the ranks and, in 2005, he was appointed as head of EirGrid.

Although an engineer at heart, Byrne wears his chief executive mantle lightly as he talks the corporate talk about the work of EirGrid, the semi-State organisation responsible for managing the country’s electricity transmission networks.

He doesn’t miss a beat when asked about objections raised by members of the public over the proposed construction of large electricity pylons by EirGrid.

In 2008 EirGrid acquired Northern Ireland’s transmissions operator Soni and together the two bodies operate a single electricity market across Ireland. A north-south channel known as an “interconnector” has linked the electricity grids north and south of the Border since the 1970s, but since the establishment of the all-island single market it has turned into a bottleneck, Byrne says.

To relieve this constraint and facilitate the cross-Border sharing of energy, EirGrid plans to develop a second north-south interconnector – using high-voltage pylons.

An Bord Pleanála has scheduled a hearing for next Monday which will provide EirGrid – and anyone objecting to the plans – with an opportunity to argue their case.

EirGrid proposes to construct the interconnector using 400kv pylons because this “is the motorway of power that we need for the future”. People living along the route of the proposed channel, which will stretch from Meath to Tyrone, have asked EirGrid to place the electricity lines underground, but Byrne is adamant that this isn’t a runner.

“Nowhere in the world is a line of this length ‘undergrounded’. It’s not feasible,” he says. “Even if it were technically feasible, it would be horrendously expensive and it would be unreliable.” However, he adds diplomatically that this is ultimately a decision for “Ireland Inc”, and not just a decision for EirGrid as it concerns a piece of national infrastructure.

“We have to do it in a way that’s affordable and reliable but that does take account of the community and environment that it passes through.”

He gives a similarly tactful answer when asked about the viability of nuclear power in Ireland. Commercially available nuclear plants are very large when considered in an Irish context. Aside from public acceptability issues, building a nuclear power unit would have “significant project risks” associated with it for an island the size of Ireland. “If the costs go awry, you’re left with a very big bill.”

He drops his corporate persona just long enough to reveal that his own view is that nuclear power has “a very strong future” in addressing climate change.

A moment later, though, he’s back on track, saying that Ireland’s contribution to the climate-change issue will probably be in the renewables space.

According to Byrne, Ireland is already on track to reach the Government target of generating 15 per cent of total electricity demand from renewable sources this year. “We have enough renewable capacity in place to deliver this year’s target.”

By 2020, renewables will have to deliver 40 per cent of the country’s electricity. For “renewables” one can effectively read “wind power”, specifically on-shore wind power, because, unlike other promising clean technology such as wave energy, this is a proven and commercially available solution.

Nonetheless, the intermittent nature of wind (eg strong one day, non-existent the next) is a problem, or rather a “challenge”, Byrne says, hastily correcting himself.

While it’s possible to store excess energy in a traditional pump storage facility such as Wicklow’s Turlough Hill hydro-electric station, this only works where the energy creation and usage pattern is stable. When dealing with an erratic energy cycle (ie with wind generation), a “massive” storage facility would be necessary. “The issue with that is that it costs a lot of money. Interconnection is another way of getting that flexibility.”

EirGrid is in the process of developing a €600 million interconnector that will link Ireland to Wales. This is on target for completion in the third quarter of 2012.

In addition, an initial feasibility study conducted by EirGrid suggests that there is a strong economic case for building a third interconnection, possibly with France, although this would be unlikely to come on-stream until the end of this decade.

The greater connectivity this would deliver would enable Ireland to export excess wind energy and import energy when our domestic supply dips.

In relation to reports this week that ESB is bidding to buy Northern Ireland Electricity (which owns the transmission network operated by Soni), Byrne is circumspect.

“The outcome of this will have an impact on us but [there’s] a long way to go in the process.”The deal would give ESB ownership of the island’s two power grids. Any such deal would have to comply with EU electricity directives relating to independence issues.

In addition to its many other projects, EirGrid is upgrading the existing transmission network in Ireland as part of its Grid25 strategy. Although demand for electricity (which is strongly correlated with economic growth) declined in the Republic by 5.4 per cent last year, positive year-on-year growth was recorded by EirGrid in the first quarter of 2010.

This could interpreted as “green shoots” or it could be due to the cold winter, he says, but either way the national grid must have the capacity to support economic growth when it finally arrives.

“We don’t have an economy if we don’t have a grid. Effectively, we’re rewiring Ireland.”

On The Record

Name: Dermot Byrne.

Age: 58.

Family: married to Máire with five children

Lives: Dublin.

Hobbies: golf, music, walking.

Something you might expect: Holds a masters degree in engineering and an MBA, both from UCD.

Something that might surprise: A lifelong interest in James Joyce.

IrishTimes – http://ow.ly/1ICS8

Weekend Newspaper Roundup in Planning #2 – 2nd May 2010

Colin Broderick — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:32:29 +0000

Not much in the papers this week. The highlights being gross residential overzoning in the State, but 800, 000 homes – that cant be right. The Liffey man is to be cancelled indefinitely and the continuing dispute over the change in Limerick Border continues.

The IrishTimes

A quiet weekend in the times not much to report except for the ongoing dispute over the limerick boundary and the misgivings of the artist Antony Gormley, the designer of Liffey Man and the Angle of the North

One Limerick council vetoed - http://bit.ly/9h7hM6
The Limerick Border dispute continues.

Key changes to Greystones plan – http://bit.ly/cbb5yP

Campaign to preserve Moore Street buildings – http://bit.ly/baUSQs
Grandson of Connolly is out to protect the forgotten rising buildings from partial desctruction

DDDA sculpture left high and dry – http://bit.ly/aIgJfz
Looks like the wireman in the Liffey is shelved indefinitely.

Irish Independent

Not too much going on in the papers this weekend, but the indo has highlighted a major issue that there is gross overzoning of lands for residential development in towns around Ireland. They quote a figure of up to 800, 000 more homes could be built on the lands – but how much of that land is located on a flood plain or a place where legally the councils can no longer zone?

Land rezoned for 800,000 more homes than needed - http://bit.ly/c7tUp5
Meath is the worst offender according to the report

Meath is worst overzoning offender – http://bit.ly/d6qeWW
Following on from the the 800, 000 more homes story

Eco-village people build community from ground up – http://bit.ly/9ctM9q
At Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary. It’s a slow start for a unique project, but its backers are high-energy, says Jerome Reilly

Thats it for this weekend

Enjoy whats left of the bank holiday folks – blue sky’s for one and all!

Weekend Newspaper Roundup in Planning

Colin Broderick — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:48:04 +0000

Welcome to the first edition of what i hope to be many, which is basically a round-up of all the planning related news to which links are available to on the net.

IrishTimes

Not too much in the Irish Times this weekend:

Unemployed architects to give workshops in schools – http://bit.ly/df98iU

Survey by TomTom says Dublin traffic among worst in Europe – http://bit.ly/a6JOBZ

Irish Independent:

Plenty to read in the Indo this weekend.

Plans for offenders’ centre spark anger - http://bit.ly/cO8mLN
Residents and business’s are not happy with the department of justice for indicating they will locate an offenders centre on Capel street / Henry street.

Councils face bankruptcy over deals struck on housing during the boom – http://bit.ly/c1f7p8
Local authorities across the country could be facing bankruptcy or severe financial difficulties over deals which were struck with developers at the height of the property boom to buy social and affordable homes.

Gormley urges locals to ‘cool it a bit’ over boundary - http://bit.ly/aEUeCT
The ongoing saga of expanding the Limerick City Council Boundary.

Galway rents stabilise in first quarter of 2010 - http://bit.ly/aMNb7m
Rents for some sectors of the Galway commercial property market stabilised during the first quarter of the year after having earlier fallen sharply from their 2008 peaks.

Electricity demand falls to 2005 levels on economy slump; Eirgrid – http://bit.ly/adzJ8Q
Electricity demand fell to a level not seen since 2005 as a result of the economic slowdown and will probably not recover to 2008 levels until some time between 2012 and 2014, according to the chief executive of Eirgrid, the semi-state body that manages the island’s electricity transmission network.

Sunday Tribune

Smurfit eyes K Club rezoning as Gannon to sell up – http://bit.ly/cbRrPZ

‘Mr Newry’ says number of Southern shoppers down 50% - http://bit.ly/905L3a

Mansfield rival opposes school plan – http://bit.ly/aWF9O8
Objections to plan for an English language school for Saudi Arabian students at Citywest in Dublin

Straight Talking, Lorcan Sirr – Ghost estates will haunt us for years – http://bit.ly/cMdjsX
Details all the headaches the state must face in terms of extablishing how many houses form the ghost estates and also the issues with what happens when they do as the local authorities duty is not to ensure that any land situate in their functional area does not become or continue to be a derelict site.

Thats it for this weekend folks

Dublin needs to start having marchs like these guys - Clermont ASM fans in Dublin for the Heinken Cup QF 2010

Colin

Internet access and parking key to successful retail districts, says expert

Colin Broderick — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:15:01 +0000

IRISH PLANNING INSTITUTE CONFERENCE: TOWN CENTRES will have to be made more appealing to the “grey market” of half-a-million Irish people over the age of 65, including those who had become online “silver surfers”, according to a leading retail specialist.

Cormac Kennedy, of CBRE estate agents, told the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) annual conference in Tullamore yesterday that suburban malls were “chasing that market” with accessible websites, free car parking and more leisure facilities.

“With 400 million active users on Facebook and 50 million messages a day on Twitter, word of mouth is being replaced by word of mouse,” he said. “Yet Dublin city centre or Cork city centre as retail areas have no internet presence compared to, say, Dundrum.

“More and more older people are using internet a lot, so retailers without a place on the web will lose out. Retailers will follow footfalls, and city and town centres need to market themselves against suburban competition if they are to survive.”

Although historic city and town centres scored highly for their “sense of place”, he said access was very important. “Car parking is king, and the availability of free parking in out-of-town centres is a great draw.”

Mr Kennedy said CBRE was receiving a lot more inquiries over the past few months from international retailers seeking to set up here than in 2009. “There’s better value in property terms. The sky hasn’t fallen in, and we still have people spending.”

However, in terms of the average number of people shopping per hour, he said there was a 7 per cent to 8 per cent drop in “footfall” on Dublin’s Grafton Street and Henry Street. “We have to do something to stop that. Otherwise retailers will move to where the footfall is.”

Alison Harvey of the Heritage Council said city and town centres needed to be managed like shopping centres, with a variety of uses to ensure their long-term vitality. Maintaining an attractive public realm also meant “zero tolerance” for graffiti and vandalism.

Richard Guiney, chief executive of the Dublin City Centre Business Improvement District (Bid), said there was 3,200sq m of graffiti in the core retail area when it started two years ago; this was now down to 100sq m “and that’s gone within a day or two”.

He said surveys had shown the city centre to be 37 per cent cleaner than previously, while the number of people who say Dublin is “dirty” had halved. He attributed this to the Bid’s supplementary cleaning and graffiti-removal programmes.

He said the Bid concept had been borrowed from North America, and the aim in Dublin was to ensure the city centre remained “dynamic”.

Working with Dublin City Council, the Garda and other agencies, he said anti-social behaviour was being tackled, extra street lighting installed and more events organised, such as a forthcoming arts festival around “bohemian” South Great George’s Street.

FRANK McDONALD Environment Editor in Tullamore

IrishTimes

TD calls for independent inquiry into causes of November flooding in Cork

Colin Broderick — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:30:30 +0000

CORK LABOUR TD Ciarán Lynch has reiterated his call for an independent inquiry into the causes of November flooding in Cork following conflicting statements about flood warnings to businesses and residents in Cork city and county.

According to Mr Lynch, clarification is required after comments by ESB chief executive Padraig McManus before a joint Oireachtas committee about the warnings given by the company to Cork City Council prompted a strong rebuke from Cork city manager Joe Gavin.

“The ESB claim that they gave as much advance warning to local authorities as was possible in the circumstances, while the city council would dispute that. We need to bring in expert opinion so that we can get to the bottom of this once and for all,” he said.

Mr McManus told the committee on Tuesday that the company had no choice but to release large volumes of water from Inniscarra Dam on November 19th last and Mr Gavin’s report to Cork City Council in December sought to shift responsibility for the flooding on to the ESB.

source: www.thehaven-cork.ie

However, Mr Gavin strongly refuted suggestions that he sought to blame the ESB for the flooding. He said he had studiously avoided apportioning blame to anyone for the flooding which is estimated to have caused €100 million worth of damage in Cork.

“At no time did I blame the ESB or seek to do so, and I assiduously avoided addressing any queries raised by the media which related to the management of the ESB dams,” said Mr Gavin, adding that contrary to what was reported his report did not criticise the ESB.

Mr Gavin said he had briefed the ESB on the contents of the report before presenting it to councillors and invited them to verify its accuracy. Moreover, on the day after it was issued a written copy was sent to the ESB and since then they had not raised any issue over its accuracy.

“It was a factual account of the event. It contained no opinion, attached no blame, and the only reference it made to the ESB w

as to thank them for their co-operation and for their offer to supply flat-bottomed trucks to help with water distribution,” he said.

An ESB spokeswoman said the Minister for the Environment was conducting an inquiry and the ESB was happy to participate in it.

IrishTimes

[IT] Gormley tells council to reconsider plans

Colin Broderick — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:03:00 +0000

MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley has told Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to reconsider plans to rezone land in south Dublin as part of its county development plan or he may make a direction forcing it to do so.

Councillors voted to accept a motion to rezone the Park Village, Carrickmines, close to the N11 motorway, to district retail centre status despite the opposition of county manager Owen Keegan.

The motion was tabled by Fine Gael councillor Tom Joyce and Fianna Fáil councillor John Byrne and passed in November by a majority of two. Some councillors complained of excessive lobbying before the vote. District retail centre status increases the space available for retail development to 25,000square metres, 6,000 more than the site’s current zoning of neighbourhood centre.

The Park Village is being developed by Park Developments Ltd. Mr Gormley wrote to the council to express his concerns about the rezoning last year. A further letter was sent to the council last Friday as part of the final consultation phase for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2010-2016.

In it, the Department of the Environment on behalf of Mr Gormley expressed the Minister’s “serious concern that the council had failed to act on his previous advice and recommendation”.

The rezoning did not accord with the “hierarchy of retail centres in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown”, in the Greater Dublin Area Retail Strategy agreed by all planning authorities. The strategy would be “seriously compromised and undermined” if the rezoning went ahead. The rezoning would attract significant amounts of car-based traffic.

The department asked the council to indicate what steps it intended to take to address the Minister’s concerns.

“Failing a satisfactory response, the Minister will have to strongly consider whether further action is warranted, including the use of powers of direction under the Planning and Development Acts,” the letter said. The powers allow the Minister to order the council not to rezone lands.

(IT)M50 upgrade and reduced tunnel charges good news for motorists

Colin Broderick — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:49:35 +0000

THE NEW year will bring good news for motorists with the completion of the M50 upgrade and toll reductions for the Dublin Port Tunnel.

Both the northbound and southbound mainline sections of the M50 will be completed by the end of January, a spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA) said yesterday.

Upgrading of a number of junctions on the motorway, including the N2 and N3 junctions, will continue for a number of months but should be completed by Easter, he said.

When completed, all junctions will be free flowing with no traffic lights.

The upgrade, which is costing €1 billion, involves converting the route from two lanes to three and improving major junctions.

Tolls on the tunnel are being reduced to €3 at all times over the Christmas period, from Christmas Day to January 2nd, the NRA has said.

In the new year, tolls are being reduced from €12 to €10 during the morning (6am to 10am) and evening (4 pm to 7 pm) rush-hour periods and from €6 to €3 at all other times. Use of the tunnel remains free for heavy goods vehicles.

The NRA, which operates the tunnel, says it remains committed to priority use for HGVs and buses but adds that increased capacity on the upgraded M50 and the opening of the Macken Street bridge in the city will allow it use ‘‘residual capacity’’ in the tunnel to accommodate more cars.

Some 15,000 vehicles use the tunnel during the week, of which 6,000 are HGVs. Weekend use drops to 8,500, of which 1,700 are HGVs.

However, while Port Tunnel charges are dropping, there will be no change next year in toll charges on the main motorways around the country, despite current deflation rates of almost 6 per cent. These are operated by private companies which have informed the authority they do not intend to reduce tolls next year.

According to the NRA spokesman, toll increases are limited to increases in the consumer price index. However, when prices fall, there is no mechanism to force a reduction in tolls.

The NRA also announced yesterday that regular closures of the Port Tunnel are being moved from Friday and Saturday nights to Wednesday and Thursday nights.

The authority says the new arrangement will be tried out for three months from mid-February.

Currently, the tunnel closes from 11 pm to 7 am on weekend nights but from February 17th it will close on Wednesday and Thursday nights from 11pm to 5.30am.a

Source: IrishTimes

Tourism plan for Spike Island

Colin Broderick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:23:19 +0000

PLANS TO develop Spike Island in Cork Harbour as a major tourist attraction moved a step closer yesterday when an inaugural meeting was held of a special steering committee set up by Cork county manager Martin Riordan to develop the island.

Mr Riordan has said he hopes to open Spike Island to the public in 2010 through the provision of a ferry service, but the long-term hope is to develop the former prison into a major tourist attraction.

The Government transferred ownership of the island, including Fort Mitchel, which was used as a prison, from the Department of Justice to Cork County Council last July to enable the council explore the island’s tourism potential.

Speaking yesterday following the steering committee meeting, chairman Brendan Tuohy, a former secretary general of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, said he was hugely impressed by the enthusiasm for the project.

“There is huge enthusiasm for the project from the different agencies involved, who have all expressed their full support for the development of Spike Island. Over the coming months the process will seek the engagement of other interests in the Cork Harbour area.We are open to ideas and the views of interested parties will be taken on board. ”

He said the intention now was to advance the short and medium-term development of Spike Island as a tourism, heritage and recreational product in Cork Harbour.

A dedicated website has been established, and the public can contribute suggestions on the development. It can be accessed at www.spikeislandcork.com

The first known use of the 106-acre island was as a monastic settlement when a religious community was established on it in the 7th century. The first prison on the island dates from the 17th century following the end of the Cromwellian wars.

During the late 18th century and early 19th century it was used to hold prisoners to be transported to the West Indies and Australia, and during the 1850s John Mitchel (after whom the prison was renamed in 1938) was jailed on Spike for his involvement in the rebellion of 1848.

The island remained in British hands until July 1938, when the last British troops departed and the Tricolour was raised by Éamon de Valera. It was transferred to the Department of Justice in 1985, which operated a prison there until its closure in 2004.

Source: IrishTimes