Sir, – I would like to add to the responses received (Letters, August 7th and 8th) to the laudable proposal by the president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, David Browne, to infill part of Dublin Bay for development, primarily housing, as an alternative to the unsustainable perimeter growth of Dublin.
Many of the responses received were from people in the area who were concerned about their views being impaired, or traffic increased or for the cost of a “protective dyke” being borne by the taxpayer. Other responses include Dublin Bay being a “Unesco Biosphere Reserve”. When I look at what is in Dublin Bay at the mouth of the river Liffey at the moment, including a sewage treatment plant and an incinerator, that latter comment makes me laugh!
A more appropriate solution, in the longer term, in my view, would be to replace the industrial wasteland at the mouth of the river Liffey and construct a high-density/high-rise new community, thus restricting the development to a smaller footprint. When viewed from anywhere around the city this new “Bayburb” could provide the same amount of accommodation as in the Browne proposal without the negative impacts. As part of this alternative, I would infill large parts of Sandymount Strand, on the other side of the railway, to create a public park accessible to all Dubliners and not just locals.
An eastern traffic bypass should also be included in any such development of this scale, to link with the Dublin Port Tunnel, and this could be concealed by appropriate landscaping.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
The costs of providing all these public facilities could be subsidised by selling the development rights for this new development, without recourse to the taxpayer. We need to reconnect Dublin City to Dublin Bay and not provide further barriers, as the railway did when it was constructed in the 1830s.
Oh, and by the way, I would get rid of those dreadful redundant ESB chimneys and aspire to provide the city with something we can be proud of rather than ashamed of. Dublin Bay should return to being the lung of the city rather than the bladder. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL J KINSELLA,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – With reference to the proposed housing plans for Sandymount Strand and much of Dublin Bay, we perhaps need reminding of that much-loved hymn of old by H Ernest Nichol (1822-1926). He refers to a different Rock perhaps, but the sentiment can apply to much of our land development today. The chorus sings as follows: “Build on the rock, the rock that ever stands, Oh, build on the Rock, and not upon the sands; You need not fear the storm, or the earthquake shock, You’re safe for evermore if you build on the Rock.” – Yours, etc,
JACKIE GREENE,
Maganey,
Athy,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – I’m bemuddled at the suggestion to build on Sandymount Strand while there are houses derelict and unoccupied on Dublin’s streets. Alternatively, we could build upward, as they do in most cities. It reminds one of the George Bernard Shaw line, “No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is so obvious.”– Yours, etc,
DONAL FITZGERALD,
Mallow,
Co Cork.