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Well you forgot option (4) get the bus instead
I imagine a lot of northside DART commuters want to get to Connolly or Tara St and would transfer to the bus if they were made go elsewhere, just saying.

I doubt people would take the bus but there is a more serious issue in this; if you board the Dart at any point after Howth Junction you have no way of getting to Tara St / Connolly other than changing at Pearse and travelling in reverse. There are two options either to mix train routes i.e. Darts on both the new routing and retaining some on the old routing or change the manditory stop for outer commuter services from Howth Junction to Clontarf Road if not just adding that. That way any commuter who gets on at any Dart stop north of there can simply change to an outer commuter train to access Tara/Connolly.

Looking at Clontarf Road I have always found the existance of a driving school track immediately adjoining a rail station highly ironic if not downright wasteful; a transport hub inspired redevelopment of that site combined with the existing quantum of development at the Eastpoint Business Park it would make great sense to upgrade the range of at that station.

As for the Inchicore station + portal I am not campaigning for this to be stopped, again I would prefer a better solution i.e. an underground station in Inchicore Village and not one on the periphery of Inchicore with a sub-standard design in comparison to the other stations.

Not going to happen; the intention is to electrify the line to Kildare in time. The costs of diverting the line would be significant and trying to place an underground station within Kilmainham would prove problematic on heritage grounds. Cost benefit would dictate electrifying a few kilometres of existing track instead. What is the walk 7 minutes?

A simple solution would be to have outer suburban trains from Drogheda stop at Clontarf Rd en route to Barrow Street; problem solved zero cost. I sense a northsider conspiracy giving nartciders access to the Green and Southsiders access to Drumcoundra; is this a plot to increase GAA levels in Dalkey?

I think thats a little harsh; there is something very pleasant about an open fire particularly one that burns wood; in terms of carbon emmisions there is a cost but equally wood from responsible forrest management i.e. pruning or off cuts from joinery shops would have hit landfill anyway.

I do however concur that the thermal bridge argument is a serious reason not to have an open fireplace in the existing format; however I have no doubt that in the future someone will design a system under negative pressure that can be closed at chimney/flue opening level when not in use. That combined with bundles of insulation behind the duct carrying the extract to prevent the thermal bridge effect along a long vertical area in the riser.

Whilst the room level hearth and fireplace are likely to remain traditional I suspect the elements you can’t see are more likely to ressemble commercial kitchen extracts going forward and a grate tradition remain for those that can afford to buy and maintain a much more complex system.

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Are there any architects offices on grafton st? what do their look like? can you see models from the street?

Do you ever have a point?

We cant go backwards of course but what strikes me most about the Cushman images is the uniformity and coherence of the streetscapes in 1961 and the lack of clutter. While certainly much of what we see might appear old fashioned now, everything from colour schemes to shopfronts to signage exudes calm and elegance. It makes you wonder just how much we have progressed.

I totally agree with your sentiments; I guess since that great rush to modernity in the 1960’s there have been a number of retailing trends which really upset the signage applecart built up organically over decades previously.

From the 1970’s on and the introduction of metal lightboxes fronted by plastic signs the days of tasteful timber or stone shopfronts were always numbered unless the local authority adopted and enforced a smart signage policy.

Ask all but the most prestigous retailers as to their signage preference and it is internally illuminated orange or yellow plastic as large as they can get away with. Sadly whilst Grafton Street has got better what is going on with Westmoreland and O’Connell Streets?

@rumpelstiltskin wrote:

but in the absence of cash couldn’t they just buy the Libeskind building and put it in there?

My thinking is not that different except that why buy the GC Square building when a formal hire agreement could be entered into for x number of days per year. As a rehearsal space the existing theatre is perfectly adequate and a share of the GC Square building could work perfectly if the plays were put together on its existing site with the final rehearsals and performances taking place in GC Square or around the country and World in other theatres. Surely the priority is that the National Theatre company produce the best quality plays and that the resources go into exactly that.

I can’t see this either; Dublin is a very strong player in fund management but the skill set complete with years of contacts just simply doesn’t exist in derivative trading. Also if it all went wrong can you see any government with a pop of c4m having the scale to underwrite the excesses of an $200Tn industry?

What might help is having a better non-domiciled tax policy to attract more high net worth types

@Yixian wrote:

The problem is, as nice as it would be having the Abbey in the GPO, you are not adding anything to OCS by making that move.

OCS is a nice street, I know many of you have big problems with it but by and large, it’s a very nice street, however there’s still plenty of junk on it and the Carlton Cinema site is a prime example.

A new structure should be built for the Abbey, one that will “add” to OCS, rather than simply not subtract..

Very few major Cities have their National Theatre on their main Street; beyond the obvious architectural quality the GPO is of significant historical importance as a post office. Why would anyone want to break the link with history to create a dark single purpose space which is predominately night-time use?

The GPO as a post office is just perfect if An Post can’t afford to run it just as a post office then let them open a cafe in the middle of the circulation space and sub-let the telephone booth section but do not wreck the 1920’s counter fitout.

@Yixian wrote:

Haha! How many times have I waffled on about Dublin needing an opera house 😛

Calatrava, Dublin Opera House, on the Liffey.

Make it so.

Investment Banks = Corporate Freinds of Opera
Broke Investment Banks = No Opera outside special events such as Wexford Opera Festival or one offs at NCH

@GregF wrote:

Looks like alternative sites will never materialize. So the best place then for the new Abbey Theatre is where it is at the moment and where it has always been. They can always dig down for more space too.

There’s a task for some “innovative” Irish architects and designers now to come up with something…..kinda Dr Who’s TARDIS sorta stuff.

Totally agree from a cultural perspective retaining it at its original location must be the object. When looking at the existing site securing the buildings on the southrn side of the lane that have their southern frontage to Eden Quay hasn’t been easier for 22 years. With a facade retenetion on those and a proposal that oversailed the lane you would have a site that was far from constrained.

Just how did the GPO ever come into the frame as a possible location it is almost as dumb as trying to float it in a flooded dry dock. You would almost think the objective in some quarters is to come with undeliverable solutions so as that no government funding will ever be given for a revamp.

Joe is correct it does say greater than 16 storeys at the 3 defined locations which is welcome but that aside it looks fundamentally flawed. 16 residential stories equates to about 12 commercial storeys which just about hits the lower range of mid rise or roughly half the height of what is considered the very smallest high rise by European standards.

To my mind there are only two grounds for refusing tall buildings in principle, beauty parades being a further proposal specific one and these are

1. Interferance with an ACA or important listed building
2. Lack of transport infrastructure.

To start the process in reverse and categorically ban anything over a certain height in specific locations for example Mountjoy Square and areas away from an existing transport line would have been a much better way of regulating what has always been an issue with very polarised opinions.

I disagree that flood defences will be required any time soon; there is clear action on Climate Change for the first time ever with both the US and China on board. Secondly the Quay walls are pretty substantial at least as far up as Islandbridge.

It will also be good to see the DDDA go back to ther original remit of the late 1980’s and 1990’s and acting as a planning agency that also promotes events and attractions in their territory. Once the Interconnector goes into the Docklands it will be a very different proposition to what it is now.