Dublin Corporation's £200 million plan to upgrade the Ringsend sewage treatment plant threatens to destroy the amenity value of the Pigeon House, its harbour and Poolbeg peninsula's waterfront, it has been claimed, reports Frank McDonald, Environment Correspondent
The Docklands Flagship Initiative called on the corporation to relocate the planned extension to the existing sewage works to an adjoining site to the west, which is owned by the Port and Docks Board.
It said a commitment to relocate the extension, to safeguard the historic harbour, would be "the first test case" of the Government's pledge to protect the cultural heritage of the docklands area.
In a statement, the group noted that the 18th century Pigeon House hotel is a listed building and that a science museum has been proposed for the nearby power station, which stands next to the harbour.
The multi-disciplinary group of artists, writers, architects and technologists want to see the harbour developed for amenity purposes - specifically, to re-fit an oil tanker offshore as "an icon of 21st century Dublin".
They said the tanker would become a "as important to Dublin and Ireland as the Sydney Opera House is to Sydney and Australia". Its refit would be designed by architects who have worked with such luminaries as Renzo Piano.
The group blamed a "collective oversight" by the authorities for the present plan, under which the sewage sludge stabilisation tanks of the extended treatment plant would be located right along the harbour front.
The Docklands Flagship Initiative maintains that it would be quite feasible to relocate the sludge tanks to the adjoining site owned by Dublin Port; the only problem is that this would involve redesigning the treatment plant.
"The apparent lack of collaboration or communication between the various bodies involved has resulted in a potentially tragic scenario . . . jeopardising the use of the harbour and quayfront as a civic amenity," it said.
The City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, has called an urgent meeting to discuss the matter.