ctesiphon

I meant to post this last weekend, but I forgot. It’s from the Irish Times Weekend section, 13th Oct 2007.

The giant cause of the Paisleys’ red faces

Ian Paisley spoke this week about reforming Freedom of Information, four days after the Act revealed embarrassing details of manoeuvring over a visitors centre, writes Susan McKay

The big new First Minister smile disappeared last week and there was a flash of the old, furious Paisley. It wasn’t about guns and godfathers – that’s so last year. This was about Freedom of Information (FoI). Well, it was about journalists, really – a pesky UN woman and a couple of nationalist MLAs. Between them, this lot have dug up evidence that is deeply embarrassing to the Paisley duo, father and son.

On Tuesday at Stormont, the DUP leader denounced “lazy journalists who will not do any work” but who instead “think that we should pay them and give them the information they want”. FoI requests were taking up far too much civil service time.

There might, he said darkly, have to be reform. Odd that in July the old man had declared proudly that “considerable strides” had been made through FoI, “towards achieving our goal of more open government”.

What was rattling the First Minister was not lazy journalists, but a very diligent one. Four days before the Stormont outburst, David Gordon of the Belfast Telegraph had revealed the contents of a remarkable letter he had obtained through FoI.

Written in 2003 on House of Commons notepaper in the name of Rev Dr Ian Paisley MP, MEP and MLA, and signed by Ian Paisley jnr, the letter was to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), berating them for turning down an application for funds from one Seymour Sweeney, who wanted to build a visitors centre at the Giant’s Causeway in Co Antrim.

The HLF had treated this as if it was some “second rate, minor” thing, Paisley huffed. In fact, he said, this proposal “has Unesco approval”. The grounds given for refusing it were “absolute rubbish”. The HLF was either “poorly advised” or it was “pursuing an agenda” to favour a rival bid. If fraudulence was afoot, he would have to raise it at Westminster.

Enter the pesky woman. The Giant’s Causeway is the North’s only World Heritage Site, a rare and much prized designation awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Unesco officials rarely speak in public, but when Mechtild Rössler heard about Paisley’s claims, she gave an interview to BBC Northern Ireland.

No such approval had been given, she said sternly. For a start, Unesco did not deal with developers, only with governments. And in any case, it had made it clear that any new development on the site should be built in the footprint of the old centre, which burned down in 2000. “That is my position and I am not moving one millimetre,” she said. Not a millimetre. Paisley’s old cry of “not an inch” sounded flexible by comparison.

The causeway, which attracts half a million visitors a year, is in a designated “area of outstanding national beauty”. Unesco wants a “modest” building on the old site and no building at all on land around that site. Sweeney’s proposal is for a three-storey building, twice the size of the old one, and on land he owns in the proposed protected zone.

THIS IS GETTING worse and worse for the DUP. After the old centre was destroyed, direct rule minister Ian Pearson had set up an international design competition for a replacement. This had the backing of the National Trust, which owns the causeway stones, the local Moyle District Council, the NI Tourist Board, various heritage and conservation bodies, and the International Union of Architects – the Unesco-nominated body for running such competitions. It was part of the overall integrated plan for the Northern area.

The winning design was by Dublin architect Róisín Heneghan, and is proudly displayed on the website of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), which covers tourism. Glossy government leaflets about the Giant’s Causeway likewise enthuse over the project.

In 2005, Heneghan’s company was given the go-ahead. In the same year, we now know, thanks to lazy journalists, Paisley snr, the local MP, wrote to Moyle District Council urging them to drop their support for this plan, which he called “fool’s gold”. The council declined to do so.

This row blew up last month when the DUP Environment Minister, Arlene Foster, suddenly announced she was “minded” to approve Sweeney’s proposal instead of the award-winning public one. She did so despite the fact that her own departmental officials had recommended refusal of Sweeney’s application. She also said she’d sue anyone who implied any wrongdoing on her part. Days later, the DETI Minister, the DUP’s Nigel Dodds, said he was withdrawing public funds from the other project. He later said he was suspending them pending a decision from Foster.

Sweeney, it quickly emerged, though not from the DUP press office, is a DUP member who signed nomination papers for a local council candidate. He is also one of the main private property developers on the north coast, which is rapidly being ruined by the blight of investment apartment developments and holiday homes. One such home was bought by Ian Paisley jnr, though it was not registered in his name and he did not declare it as an asset.

Asked on a radio programme if he knew Sweeney, Paisley jnr replied coyly: “I know of him.” Lazy journalists then produced beaming photos of Sweeney and the two Paisleys in Bushmills together. David Gordon said he “spluttered in disbelief”, having met Paisley jnr acting as “an enthusiastic supporter” of Sweeney back in 2001.

SDLP MLA’s Declan O’Loan and John Dallat have been dogging the DUP on the issue. Dallat is to refer Paisley’s letter to the HLF to the parliamentary standards watchdog at Westminster, and O’Loan has further questions lined up for Foster and Dodds.

Sinn Féin has demanded to see the planning advice given to Foster. She has so far refused to supply key files.

The party’s local MLA, and most junior politician, Daithí McKay, even said last week that the party might even have to “review our situation within government”, though senior figures kept their power-sharing smiles firmly in place and said nothing about this extravagant claim. Inside the DUP, Foster and Dodds must be raging.

Whatever the political fallout, it looks like the Big Man and his son are going to have to wear sackcloth and ashes on this one.

© 2007 The Irish Times

I noticed this morning that the inbound section of this has been done up in red, and the old kerb-hugging lane is gone for good. It is definitely more legible now than two weeks ago.

I couldn’t see the outbound side- might check it this evening. Any other reports?

Sorry to hear that, newgrange.

It’s always hard to say, but strong cases were made by many appelants on both procedural issues and matters of detail. An Taisce did a good job of querying the Council’s right to permit commercial development on land not in its ownership (property boundaries go to the middle of the road, apparently) and made strong cases on conservation grounds regarding four appeals. The DTO section was pretty short but seemed to be quite effective re the traffic hazard likelihood of the signs- the second article copied above is a pretty accurate reflection of that module.

I didn’t see too many of the individual appelants, but the larger policy issues might be enough to scupper all of the appeals.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that the Inspector’s report must be forwarded to the Board members and they might disagree with it, so even if she recommends refusal in some or all of the cases, the Board might grant (or vice versa).

No idea of the expected waiting time for the decision(s), I’m afraid.

Get well soon. Your neighbourhood needs you.;)

Docklands skyscraper to soar to 180m

A skyscraper soaring 60m (197ft) higher than the Spire on O’Connell Street has been chosen by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) as the winner of the latest competition for the U2 Tower at Britain Quay. Frank McDonald , Environment Editor, reports.

The sensational new scheme has the rock band’s eggshaped recording studio suspended beneath a battery of vertical wind turbines and a huge solar panel at the top. This “energy centre” will raise the overall height from 130m (427ft) to 180m (591ft).

The tilted triangular tower, designed by Foster + Partners, will include a public viewing platform offering panoramic views over the city and Dublin Bay. This will be located just below U2’s “pod” studio, which will be separated from the structure for acoustic reasons.

The scheme by Norman Foster’s practice, best known for the Swiss Re or “Gherkin” tower in the City of London, was commissioned by Geranger Ltd, a consortium consisting of Ballymore Properties, developer Paddy McKillen and the members of U2.

Geranger was selected as “provisional preferred bidder” for the €200 million project. It was chosen ahead of rival tenders from: Treasury Holdings/Sisk; Mountbrook Homes, controlled by developer Seán Dunne; the Dutch-based Royal BAM Group; and the Riverside II Partnership.

The Treasury Holdings/Sisk scheme, designed by Zaha Hadid, came second in the competition, which was assessed by Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Shih-Fu Peng of Heneghan Peng Architects; and Michael O’Doherty, former principal architect at the Office of Public Works.

DDDA director of architecture John McLaughlin said the Foster scheme “had the edge because its public spaces were really well handled” and it provided a gateway to a new bridge over the river Dodder where it joins the Liffey alongside Britain Quay.

In addition to the tower, which will largely comprise luxury apartments, the scheme includes a five-star hotel in a flanking building to the south, oversailing a block of 34 social and affordable apartments, which comprise 20 per cent of the overall residential content.

As part of its renewable energy agenda, the south facade of the tower will be clad in solar panels, while the east and west facades will have a three-dimensional quality, “like fishscales”, and the north facade will be “quite sleek”, Mr McLaughlin said. The crinkly east and west facades will conceal generous balconies. Their treatment, as well as the overall profile of the scheme, was inspired by the saw-toothed roof of a warehouse that once stood on the site.

DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney said the authority was “conscious that this is the most sought-after development in Dublin” and he paid tribute to all the bidders for the “immense amount” of work they had put into their entries and the “very exciting” designs they produced.

“What we have is the combination of a very strong financial offer with a striking architectural result,” he added. Architectural quality took pre-eminence in the criteria used for judging the competition, accounting for 45 points compared to 40 for the financial aspects of each bid.

Mr Maloney said the Geranger bid had been selected because it “exceeded the expectations of the brief with the emergence of a breathtaking design uniquely suited to this prominent Docklands site”, and it would provide an “inspirational landmark” for Dublin.

The original U2 Tower, a twisting structure designed by Blackrock-based architects Burdon Craig Dunne Henry, was judged not feasible to build at a height of just 60m (197ft). So the bar was raised to 130m (427ft) and an adjoining site was added to “make the sums stack up”.

It is expected that construction will start next year, with a view to completion by 2011. No planning permission is required, as it is already covered by the Grand Canal Docks planning scheme.
© 2007 The Irish Times

There’s your hotel, Graham. ‘Oversailing’ the 20% S&A Housing (required under the 2000 GCD Planning Scheme).

@JoePublic wrote:

Won’t they have to reapply for planning permission?

Dear DDDA,

Re. Section 25 Application

Can I build it?

Thanks.

Yours,

N.

PS One tall building is just like another, right?

http://www.dublindocklands.ie/files/business/docs/14739gcdpischeme06q4.pdf

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

The twisting design is toast….

Well we’ve already got Libeskind and Calatrava. I wonder what other notches the DDDA would like to have on its bedpost?

Mind you, if it clears the way for the quiet disappearance of Hotel UFO at The Clarence…

@manifesta wrote:

. . . and there’s no telling where it will end once you start giving in to the catholic hardcore.

Catholic hardcore? I see…

…but I don’t see any hardcore.

Perhaps…

…will be more fruitful territory, but I have my doubts, especially as even the Catholics themselves don’t seem to know of any: http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/lofiversion/index.php/t20436.html

*** *** ***

kefu-

There’s a statue in the Millennium Park in Lismore that might be St. Patrick, but I can’t be sure, and the photos I have are inconclusive. Any west Waterford readers care to comment?

And today’s:

@The Irish Times wrote:

Roadside advertising opposed
Olivia Kelly

New free-standing advertising panels which JC Decaux is seeking to erect at 120 locations across Dublin in exchange for a city bike scheme, would constitute a “traffic hazard” the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) has told a Bord Pleanála hearing.

The board is holding an appeals hearing on permission granted by Dublin City Council for 24 of the 120 panels. However, the DTO told the hearing that it is opposed to the scheme in its entirety.

DTO chief executive John Henry said that the purpose of the street-side advertising panels was clearly to attract the attention of drivers. “Anything which is designed to attract a driver’s attention must therefore distract their attention from the road. Anything which distracts a driver’s attention is unacceptable.”

JC Decaux, one of the world largest advertising companies, has sought permission for 70 panels of 7sq m which will stand just over 2m off the ground, and 50 panels of 2.59sq m, similar in size to a bus shelter. All of the panels will be illuminated and can carry scrolling images.

Illuminated signs adjacent to the roadside were particularly dangerous, Mr Henry said.

“The DTO is totally opposed to the provision of on-street illuminated outdoor signage as it is considered to constitute a traffic hazard.” Scrolling images were “even more distracting”, he said.

The DTO’s position was supported, Mr Henry said, by a recent Bord Pleanála refusal of permission for an illuminated scrolling advertising panel at Long Mile Road in west Dublin on the grounds that it would distract drivers.

The DTO was also concerned about the panels that were proposed for pedestrian areas, on the grounds that they might impede pedestrians, particularly the visually impaired.

RPS consulting engineers, representing JC Decaux, told the hearing the assertion that the signs would cause a traffic hazard was “inaccurate and without substance”. “The suggestion of the appellant that the proposed advertising structure will act as a distraction and consequently a hazard to motorists implies that all signage, including public information signage should be banned. This is patently unreasonable,” Angela Grady of RPS said.

Illuminated signage was part of the regular driving environment for city drivers, she said.

“The suggestion of the appellant that the proposed illuminated signage will constitute a traffic hazard is considered inaccurate and without substance.”

JC Decaux and the council had gone to considerable effort to ensure the structures would not affect pedestrian movement, she said.

In exchange for allowing JC Decaux to erect 120 signs for a 15-year period, instead of the normal three-year planning permission, the council will receive 450 bikes, four public toilets, and a number of tourism and public information signs.

The hearing continues today.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Just copying these here from the O’Connell Street thread. I don’t have time now to discuss, but if anyone else wants to have a go… DCC, I’m looking at you.

@Alek Smart wrote:

Well,If yiz want something even BETTER….hop on a 46A as far as Leeson St/Appian Way/Waterloo Rd. (Bring your flask and sandwiches)
Then be prepared to be amazed and elevated to a far higher plane at the scope of DCC`s professional planning branch as one attempts to take in Irelands ONLY Bicycle Dual carriageway divided by a Bus Lane with (For added safety) a Bus Stop on the inside.

Also take in the “Warning Sign” which I`m sure IS contained in the “Road Signs Manual”……well maybe the one used in the Childrens Art Competition.

I suspect Civic Offices has been the subject of a Hallucinogenic Mushroom Gas attack by Aliens from the planet Muppit…….Now where IS that P45 form….???? 😡