Sir, - We warmly welcome Frank McDonald's report (The Irish Times, October 11th), which draws attention to the serious consequences of unco-ordinated planning on the Poolbeg peninsula.
To locate part of the proposed new sewage treatment works on the Pigeon House harbour quay front, as the current project proposes, while an alternative and more logical site exists alongside the main plant, betrays a disregard for our cultural heritage and future.
With knowledge comes responsibility. On September 26th, the Docklands Flagship Initiative delivered a memo to the bodies concerned outlining a more logical alternative site for that part of the proposed new plant and listing the statutory mechanisms required to enable the Pigeon House harbour and quay front to be saved for the future. The memo also stressed the urgency of Government action: to comply with EU directives the tender documents for the new plant must be issued on October 30th. The proposed new sewage treatment plant will be designed by the contractors once they receive the tender documents.
The consequences of complacency will not just be the desecration of the culturally symbolic harbour but also the jeopardising of much-needed employment on the peninsula in the tourist, amenity, and enterprise sectors as outlined in the draft master plan.
Motivated engineers, planners and architects have been working simultaneously but in isolation on the Poolbeg peninsula and docklands area with the common goal of correcting the more recent vagaries of the Celtic Tiger development boom in Dublin, which has resulted in the disintegration of community values, the impoverishment of the physical and cultural environment in a real sense, and a two-tier social structure.
This common goal comes across clearly in the primary objective of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority draft master plan: "to secure the sustainable social and economic regeneration of the Docklands area with improvements to its physical (and cultural) environment being a vital ingredient."
Pigeon House harbour and the Poolbeg peninsula are the strongest symbols the Capital of our island country has of its early resolve to embrace the culture, trade and technologies of the world. They are associated with such names as Cromwell, Wesley, Handel, Swift and Joyce. The technological history of the area encompasses the South Wall, built in the 18th century and still an engineering feat of world class, and the Victorian Powerhouse, one of the most advanced in the world in 1903. The twin towers built in 1971 are Dublin's most powerful landmark.
Having been alerted to the consequences of continuing with the current plan to build part of the new plant on the harbour and quay front, the Government now has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the protection of the docklands' cultural heritage and the employment potential of the peninsula. - Yours, etc., Frank Hughes, Architect,
On behalf of the Docklands Flagship Initiative,
Pigeon House Harbour,
Dublin 4.