Dublin Corporation will shortly announce details of an international design competition to find a suitable replacement for Nelson's Pillar, blown up in 1966. This will form part of a comprehensive plan for "the renaissance of O'Connell Street".
The plan, unveiled in the Mansion House yesterday before a large gathering of interested parties, aims to reinstate "Ireland's main street" and turn it into a Dublin version of the Champs Elysees, which has also been upgraded in recent years.
Pedestrians in O'Connell Street are to be given more space by reducing the traffic lanes from three to two in each direction. There is also provision for sidewalk cafes on the widened footpaths as well as street furniture of the highest quality.
The city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, expressed confidence that the Government would agree to provide a package of urban renewal tax incentives to lever the private-sector investment required to make this ambitious "integrated area plan" a reality.
The plan is not confined to O'Connell Street. It covers the entire "great civic thoroughfare" extending from Parnell Square to College Green, as well as portions of the side streets, with a view to revitalising it in a "holistic" way.
Apart from a design competition for the former Nelson's Pillar site, wider footpaths and narrower carriageways, the main elements of the plan, which will cost at least £30 million to implement, include:
The creation of a civic space in front of the GPO, defined by a formal arrangement of trees and "sculptured lighting".
Replacing a derelict site beside the former Carlton cinema with a pedestrian route to Moore Street and the ILAC centre in Henry Street.
An open space on the north side of Parnell Square, linking the Hugh Lane Gallery and the Garden of Remembrance.
A landscape competition in collaboration with the Office of Public Works to redesign this commemorative garden.
A pedestrian precinct in the vicinity of the Pro-Cathedral forming part of a "green route" to Gardiner Street.
A forecourt in front of the Abbey Theatre, with a pedestrian bridge between Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street.
Urban renewal designation for a number of key sites, including the former Carlton cinema and Parnell Square West.
The Lord Mayor, Mr John Stafford TD, said he was "totally ecstatic" about the plan as the restoration of O'Connell Street to its rightful place in the hearts of Dubliners and everyone else in Ireland had been one of his principal goals since taking office last July.
He had no doubt that it would receive the Government's full support, because the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had taken a personal interest in the rejuvenation of O'Connell Street and had sent along his adviser, Mr Paddy Duffy, to yesterday's ceremony.
Mr Dick Gleeson, deputy chief planning officer, who led the team which produced the plan, said it was strange that O'Connell Street had been left out of the "intense level of urban regeneration" now under way in Dublin, despite its "heavyweight" status.
"We would be almost shooting ourselves in the foot if we do not present O'Connell Street to the highest environmental standards possible, because there is no other street in the Republic which has such an unequivocal role as Ireland's main street," he said.
Mr Gleeson said the plan aimed to tackle the conflict between traffic and pedestrians, the lowergrade uses which had proliferated in recent years and the mistakes made in the 1970s by permitting poorly designed modern buildings.
O'Connell Street had been suffering, since the Act of Union in 1800, from being located on "the wrong side of the river", but now the corporation was determined to make it the centrepiece of Dublin's urban renaissance.
According to Mr Gleeson, the main reason for proposing a new route linking up with Moore Street was to overcome the current weakness of Upper O'Connell Street, by creating a "magnet" to increase pedestrian circulation north of the Henry Street shopping precinct.
He also explained that the package of tax incentives had been specifically tailored to cover major rejuvenation schemes, such as on the Carlton cinema site, as well as lesser interventions like remodelling incongruous or poorly designed facades and shopfronts.
The city manager paid tribute to Mr Gleeson and his team for their achievement in putting the plan together in record time and said a small group of dedicated officials would be working full-time to implement it over the next three or four years.
Mr Fitzgerald said the plan to revitalise O'Connell Street had to be treated as a special case because of its importance. He also stressed that the problems of the north inner city in general must be addressed simultaneously; otherwise it would fall apart.
Mr Tom Rea, general manager of Clerys department store, who had been drawing attention to the danger that O'Connell Street was being ignored, said he was delighted that its rejuvenation was now set to become a national project for the millennium.
