-Donnacha-

I’ve seen the propsal the council were given and they had no option but to bin it. Vague and sloppy doesn’t begin to describe the graphics, which look like they were drawn by a five year old with a thick marker on the back of a napkin.
And the written material has less detail than your average planning application for a garage extension.
This is coming from people who have seven billion euros in their pockets?
This was a joke from start to finish.

This won’t be built anywhere else in Europe, its just not going to happen. Even aside from the shady financial aspects and the lack of any concrete proposals which made it a non-runner anyway Europe (and especially Ireland) is a bad location for theme parks of this magnitude because of the climate – Europe is cold in winter. This is one of the reasons EuroDisney is struggling, they can’t attract people to freeze their balls off on the outskirts of Paris on a January afternoon. Unlike its sister operations in Florida and Southern California which have excellent year round weather.

Also did anyone notice their expected visitor numbers – 35 million annually, 18 million of which would be from abroad. Ambitious yes, but not nearly as ambitious as the 17 million domestic visitors they expecteds every year. Theres a population of about 5.5 to 6 million on the entire island, that means they were expecting every man, woman and child from North, South, East and West to visit the place 3 times each every year!

This was just never going to happen for so many reasons, here or anywhere else.

And still far better than “The worst urban renewal scheme ever undertaken by man”, or whatever the DDDA are calling the rubbish they’re inflicting on the docklands at the moment.

In fairness the buildings mentioned here might generate a “wow” factor in Dublin, since even though they are quite bland, they’re absolutely and completely unique in the context of ultra unmodern Dublin.

Have just returned from Toronto and am a huge fan of their streetcar system. It’s quaint, but reliable, fast and fun – everything mass transit should be. However, if Luas followed the Toronto model, I think the bodies would be piling up on the streets within hours.
I’m not sure how Luas will interact with other traffic, but the streetcars seem to rely on a combination of road manners and pedestrian cop-on, qualities in short supply on the streets of Dublin at the moment. In Toronto, where there are no mid-street stops, you have to hail the streetcars down from the side of the road, cross out into the traffic, which has to stop for you, and then repeat the process when you are leaving by the (automatic) back door.
There are small notices to be careful of oncoming traffic and motorists just have to exercise a little caution and consideration.
It works like a dream. Like the rest of the city.
I should add that Torontonians thing their traffic is hectic, but I think sounding the horn counts as road rage there…

that silver thing is an older application which was refused because of two existing buildings on the quayside which were to be demolished, a new application has been submitted (or is close to), which retains these two existing buildings.

I doubt it means there’d be 12 landmark buildings, the way I see it it just means 12 sites that are suitable for landmark buildings. Doesn’t mean each and every one of them will be used.

The way Ireland is at the moment any building above 5 stories and/or not shaped like a cardboard box would constitute a landmark building. Witness the breathtakingly banal plans for the docklands in Dublin. I find it kind of amusing that they have plans for two or three “landmark” buildings on what is a completely blank canvass. It just seems like an admission that the vast majority of the place will be covered in witless, ultra-conservative monotony much like practically all of the rest of modern Dublin.

How about Coolock’s ‘Moonwalk’ streets (presumably built in 1969 or thereabouts) –

Armstrong Walk,

Aldrin Walk,

Tranquility Grove (after The Sea Of).

I’m sure there are more…

I heard the Tara Street building is supposed to start around this time next year. Don’t know what the reason for the delay is, possibly to do with financing or something, but as of now its still going ahead.

By the way, I probably could be called a fan of skyscrapers, I think Dublin and Ireland in general could do with a few of them, provided they’re well-designed of course.

Careful there, daring to suggest that standing, screeching into the ears of your friends in an overpriced, soulless shed designed to maximise drinking space at the expense of anything resembling confort for the punters may not be an ideal night out.

Re the Market Bar –
-However long the bar may be, there isn’t enough of it to serve the kajillions of people there in on a Saturday night. In two hours there, I spent nearly 40 minutes getting two rounds in.

-Loud music is one thing. Places like this are loud because too many people are standing around in an open space with bare brick walls and nothing to dampen noise. There’s an Emperor’s new clothes feel to places like this – if it’s packed and I can’t hear myself think, then it must be great.

Yes, many of the smaller, more traditional pubs are also overcrowded, but that’s because there aren’t enough of them in Dublin for a million people plus tourists. I agree with Rory W – more licences.