hutton

@hutton wrote:

Cash in place for liffey cable car

By Cormac Murphy

Friday July 10 2009

THE COMPANY behind the Liffey cable car proposal has the money in place to fund the project, it has been revealed.

Despite the difficult economic conditions, the Liffey Cable Car Company is ready and able to proceed with the €52m ‘Suas’ scheme.

And the firm is even planning similar projects in other cities in Ireland and in New York.

The ambitious proposal would see cable cars gliding over the Liffey at heights of 80 metres.

All the company needs is the go-ahead from Dublin City Council after it lodges a planning application and it can proceed, said Paddy Duffy, who has been working with the company on the plans.

The tourist attraction, which is inspired by the London Eye, is the brainchild of developer Barry Boland.

“Mr Boland is not looking for any public money at all. He has the sizeable amount of money necessary for the project already in place,” Mr Duffy said.

“The next step would be to approach Dublin City Council, to see if the officials will support it. That is where the project is at the moment,” he added.

The company is looking to hold pre-planning consultation meetings with the local authority.

If given the go-ahead, Suas will run from Heuston Station to the Docklands.

A presentation of the plan was made to the economic special policy committee earlier this year and was well received by councillors, Mr Duffy said.

“The team was very heartened by the positive reaction of the engineering committee of the council when they presented it to them,” he added.

comurphy@herald.ie

– Cormac Murphy

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/cash-in-place-for-liffey-cable-car-1816070.html

So who is Mr. Paddy Duffy???

Well being the helpful sort, hutton thought is might be informative and add just a little bit of background information…

When not penning Fianna Fail anthems titled “The Man They Call Ahern”, Paddy gets around…First from the Irish Times last year when the scandal broke as to the Fás junkets:

@Irish Times, front page wrote:

Associate of Ahern flew twice to US as Fás guest

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

COLM KEENA and ELAINE EDWARDS

PADDY DUFFY, the close associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern,
travelled to the US as a guest of Fás in 2004 and 2006, although he
had no official role with the authority.

The cost of Mr Duffy’s trips – one of which cost €4,562 – was charged
to the Fás Science Challenge project, which spent over €600,000 on
transatlantic travel for the director general of Fás, Rody Molloy, his
wife and senior Fás executives in a four-year period.

As pressure grew on Mr Molloy yesterday in relation to expenditure
controls at Fás, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he knew Mr Molloy to be an
excellent public servant.

“I have every confidence in him,” Mr Cowen said. Fás is the national
training authority and has an annual budget of €1 billion.

Mr Molloy said on radio yesterday that the expenditure was related to
the Fás Science Challenge programme which links up Irish students and
apprentices with top science institutes in the US, including the Nasa
space centre in Florida.

Mr Molloy said a $942 game of golf at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
Resort in Orlando in January 2005 was part of a process of developing
relationships with people in the US.

He also defended the expenditure of $410 at a beauty and nail salon in
Cocoa Beach, Florida, in August 2005. “Getting into detail of the
preparation of somebody for a particular event, again the amount of
money in terms of the total package is very, very small,” he said on
RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny show.

Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise Leo Varadkar, called on the Tánaiste
and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan to
“back or sack” Mr Molloy and his board. Documents released to The
Irish Times by Fás under the Freedom of Information Act show Mr Molloy
travelled to the US 11 times between November 2003 and November 2007,
with his wife accompanying him on five occasions. The total cost was
€67,917.

The majority of the flights cost several thousand euro, with a flight
for Mr Molloy to Houston in April 2007 costing €8,966.43.

In November 2007, a Fás executive and his wife flew around the world
at a cost of €12,097. “The individual in question, who was at an event
in Tokyo, on official business . . . then at his own expense spent
some time on the way back coming back through the US,” Mr Molloy said.

Mr Duffy was flown to Atlanta, Georgia, in January 2004 at a cost of
€4,562. The cost of a 2006 flight for Mr Duffy paid for by Fás, this
time to Florida, is not known.

Mr Duffy, who acted as an adviser to Mr Ahern up to 1999, is now a
public relations consultant. He told The Irish Times he was heavily
supportive in a voluntary capacity of the Science Challenge, and was
invited by Fás on both trips. Fás is currently the subject of an
inquiry by the Dáil Committee on Public Accounts.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1125/1227486547029.html

Secondly from the SB Post:

@Sunday Business Post, 2002/03/31 wrote:

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/03/31/story395283728.asp
Second episode involving former advisor
Sunday, March 31, 2002
By Pat Leahy

Paddy Duffy has been associated with Bertie Ahern for much of the Taoiseach’s political life, but this is the second time in three years that he has caused him severe embarrassment.

Duffy resigned from his post as a special adviser to Ahern in June 1999 when it was revealed that he had been been a director of a public affairs and lobbying company, Dillon Consultants, for a number of months.

Dillons had advised NTL, which had bought Cablelink from the state, and Duffy had attended meetings between the Taoiseach and representatives of NTL.

Duffy’s versions of events later differed from those supplied by Dillons.

Duffy said that his installation as a director of the firm was due to mistake and misunderstanding, although he himself had signed the necessary form which was lodged in the Companies Office.

It later emerged that the company had described him as one of `our people’ and boasted of his political connections months before he signed up as a director. The Public Offices Commission later found that neither Duffy nor the Taoiseach had complied with their obligations under the Ethics in Public Office Act.

Answering questions on the matter in the Dail, the Taoiseach described Duffy’s version of events as “so stupid it is probably believable”.

Although Duffy did not reveal it at the time, he was also a director of a company called The Right Word. Since his departure from government he has developed The Right Word into a successful public affairs consultancy. He has recruited a number of former political and civil service employees to work with him in his Harcourt Street offices.

According to the company’s website, Duffy and co “have worked at the very highest levels of government and the public service and the private sector . . . . they know intimately how government and business work, how policies are determined and put into effect.

“[The company is] keenly aware of . . . the broad remit there is to democratise and make accessible channels of government decision-making . . . The programme pace and impact, [sic] are always those desired by the client.”

The Right Word declined a request from The Sunday Business Post for information about its clients last week. It refused to say whether it numbered any publicly-funded bodies among its clients.

Before joining Ahern as a full-time operative, Duffy was a teacher and the founding principal of a gaelscoil in Ashbourne, Co Meath. He joined Ahern in the Department of Finance as press officer, and when Ahern became party leader in opposition Duffy held the title of chef de cabinet.

He became special adviser on Ahern acession to the Taoiseach’s office, working principally in the areas of cultural affairs and speechwriting.

He also composed what was for a time the Fianna Fail theme tune, The Man They Call Ahern.

And thirdly, from Phoenix:

Hi Kefu,

• StephenC has a good point about lack of permeability by public transport – in particular the unreformed Dublin Bus routes via Stoneybatter still adhere to tramway routes from the 1930s, by going from the city centre up the quays and across a bridge onto Blackhall Place. To my mind it seems logical that with the redevelopment of Smithfield, some of these should have been rerouted by North King and Church Streets and via Fr. Matthew Bridge – hence delivering services to SF, rather than bypassing.
• Separately from what I understand, the developers rented out a massive “step-down” space out to the HSE for addicts, in the block adjoining the motor tax offices. I suspect they rented out in desperation for some kind of revenue, however my understanding is that the facility is far larger than purely that for local needs. Smithfield was already providing home to the children’s court and also the probation service – yet the cumulative effect of all of these in the one place, in the absence of living commercial space, has really made it a no-go area.
• Finally the tower, now closed for over two years, and the tall lamps unused, are really the final straw in terms of sending out all the wrong signals of dereliction and closure. These gave a sense of vibrancy that could be attractive to parents and their children, and while there may be issues about burning gas, there must be some inexpensive way to rehabilitate. Instead, idle and empty, these past attractions seem to compliment the stained and tatty awnings for the closed Park Hotel and convenience stores.

On the upside, in my opinion the Dice Bar and the Cobblestone pub continue to be successful, and imo Dice Bar has done more for regeneration of that area than the Luas – which imo has been counter-productive thru having been over-engineered and anti-pedestrian and anti-cyclist – please note the “no pedestrian” signs and barriers erected by Luas on pavements at Benburb and Church Streets – madness!

@lostexpectation wrote:

whats the bluish building there in the front

Used to be the old Irish Press HQ – Ghastly wasn’t it? Substantially less offensive once it was reclad with stone to appear as if it is a different building 🙂

Lad in the snap at top of the page had it right when he said “a lot of developers have taken their eye off the ball” – well, taken ever so slightly out of context… how times have so drastically changed…

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

Graham theyre only removing the temporary ones between the obelisk and the railings put in a decade ago. I don’t believe there ever was a proposal to remove all the spaces.

That might be so, but it’s a missed opportunity to lift the bar – imagine a more integrated relationship between Leinster Lawn park with Merrion Square? Why not a corridor connecting the Natural and National museums, providing linkage amongst the 4 cultural institutions?

That’s the problem with this area; incremental proposals or impositions and no overall plan The lawn by itself, the mooted natural museum extension, and the Unknown tomb of the Soldier recently erected within the park railings – seemingly no coordination despite all state controlled.

A little bit of imagination in handling this quarter could pay real dividends.

@jdivision wrote:

They had rental agreements in place on a number of the units. However, the retailers are refusing to move in as the units are double height and they don’t want to pay the additional costs such as heating that involves. The developers went back and tried to put mezzanines or convert the top half into offices making the units single storey but DCC in their wisdom said no. So now the units are empty and with the downturn many of those who had agreed to open are probably reassessing their options.

In fairness jdivision, DCC probably got tired of all the change-of-uses sought by the developers, and possibly viewed such requests through that prism – ie no emigration museum, no legal museum, no craft centre, or sculpture centre – all of which were scheduled but never happened 🙁

The light house is a gem in an otherwise now somewhat intimidating ghost town.

I couldn’t believe when I saw this today – and Dick Quirke has erected a massive banner hoarding advertising his Dr Quirkey’s, which of itself contains tolerating a non-compliant gambling outfit to advertise on an unauthorised structure on the capital’s finest street – you just couln’t make this stuff up 😡

@Peter Fitz wrote:

is there some merit in giving the grand canal theatre an actual purpose & declaring it the Abbey’s new home ?

@jdivision wrote:

It’s privately owned (Harry Crosbie) so think that may be out unfortunately. Would have been a most sensible idea otherwise. Too sensible by far for those doing the botching

Got to say while I can see your reasoning, I would be fundamentally against such an idea. The north inner city centre has seen far too many venues and attractions close over the last generation – countless cinemas, as I noted on another thread, as well as various other multi-generational interactive attractions, such as wax museum, SFX, etc. (I see also Gobshite Martin Cullen has also recently cut the funding for Writers’ Museum 😡 )

O’Connell Street has been subverted by the departure of such attractions in it’s hinterland – sure Parnell Cineplex may have opened, but on the whole there are far far fewer attractions in this area now then there were in the midst of the early 80’s recession.

If the city centre is to have any chance of functioning, anchor attractions need to be reinserted onto the capital’s grandest street – otherwise, despite all your IAP fancy footpaths, the street will alas continue in a downward trajectory.

Therefore, rather than adding to this trend by relocating Abbey Theatre away from O’Connell Street, it should in fact be located onto O’C Street as a key attraction in the GPO.

If we have any cop in this town, we should realise that the current recession is likely to last a number of years – possibly 10 or more – and therefore we should start figuring out other ways by which civic pride can be brought back up again. Cheesy and all as it was, I believe that Dublin’s 1988 Millennium did wonders for reinstating civic pride when we really needed it – a pride that helped get the city back on track so that it was able to act as a capital of a country that subsequently boomed.

The centenary of 1916 is coming up: rather than a destructive episode such as that which became of the Pillar in ’66, what say we use 2016 as a rallying point to do something positive, much as what the millennium became, and in that regard I put it to you that a restored GPO containing the Abbey and other venues such as for opera/ ballet would be a real beacon that the capital could do with – right when we need it most!

What say? 🙂

@publicrealm wrote:

Thanks for posting that SR – I checked both refs and it appears that 6784/06 is in a Z1 (rather than Z9) area?

Does anyone have other examples of permitted advertising in Z9 areas?

P.

Shed loads adjacent to RPS and in arch zones that weren’t referred to prescribed bodies – Constitution Hill Synott Place and Camden St come to mind.

@hutton wrote:

ill-informed spacing of opes

A bit like my gob on occasion 😮

Read “An BP” rather than “DCC” for the start of that – and I would add to clarify, a most welcome decision by DCC in shooting it down in the first instance (see henno’s post above) 🙂