David O'Brienargues the harbour faces a massive challenge in this recession to realise its full potential, and how the issue is addressed may well hold the key to whether Dublin becomes a true capital of sport
DUBLIN NOW boasts not one, but two world-class sports arenas in Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium. For decades to come, millions will be entertained in the facilities, a tribute to the vision of the men and women who pushed for their development.
But these are not the biggest sports arenas in Dublin. That distinction goes to another site that now needs a generous amount of vision and development too – Dublin Bay.
Every weekend, the area of water between Howth Head and Dalkey is filled with sailors, divers, swimmers and fishermen, to say nothing of the hordes who simply run or walk by its shores. And it’s a unique resource – no other European capital has this kind of natural sports amphitheatre.
But Dún Laoghaire – one of the world’s largest man-made harbours – now faces a massive challenge, and how the issue is addressed may well hold the key to whether Dublin becomes a true capital of sport.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey recently announced his department was undertaking a review of all our national ports. The 10 State commercial port companies – Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Galway, New Ross, Shannon Foynes, Waterford and Wicklow – are critical to the national economic well-being, with up to 99 per cent by volume of all goods traded into and out of Ireland passing through them.
Like many other commercial entities, the ports have suffered during the recession, and one which faces particular challenges is Dún Laoghaire. Commercial traffic has dropped dramatically, with the impending loss of one its major contracts – the Stena Line ferry service to Holyhead.
Established in 1997, the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company’s job is to maintain and develop the harbour. In this downturn, it clearly has its hands full.
Accounts filed with the Companies Office show that in the financial year ending on December 31st, 2008, an operating profit of almost €3 million was turned into reported losses of €4.2 million after a re-evaluation of investment income.
The company has been included in a list of 28 State companies which the Government-appointed Review Group on State Assets suggested could be sold to cut the €84 billion national debt.
Now that a key “anchor” tenant looks likely to leave the harbour, it’s time to take a long and hard look at its future. One thing is certain: Dún Laoghaire cannot survive as a commercial entity unless it introduces radical changes.
It is implementing a business survival plan but it is being resisted by the unions. Labour Court proceedings continue.
With 1.5 million people living on its doorstep, the harbour could be a major European marine activity centre, encompassing a variety of marine activity both commercial and leisure, including maritime research and oceanography.
But that potential has still to be fully realised. At present, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company offers almost no maritime activity that engages the general public, even though it owns the country’s largest marina, a state-of-the-art facility, and collects rent from 800 private boat owners there.
The harbour company is asking the public for ideas to put into a plan for the harbour. Although plans to develop a cruise terminal appear to be setting up in direct competition with Dublin Port, there’s no doubt small cruise ships would be a popular addition.
Minimal investment is required by the harbour in terms of infrastructure as the passengers are merely transferred into waiting coaches, which the levelling of the Carlisle Pier facilitates. There would be a measurable benefit to the local economy as some passengers and many of the crew on these ships will elect to stay locally.
But the problem for the port is that cruise ships alone won’t balance the books. What would sort the problem out, and it is the most likely outcome in the longer term, is a mix of industrial/commercial and leisure uses.
The potential for marine leisure is very attractive – and commercially viable – in the long term given there is an existing base of four waterfront yacht clubs from which to build. However, a plan to more than triple the number of private berths, suggested by the harbour company only three years ago, now looks a long way off given that the waiting list at the marina has disappeared.
Instead of looking at the harbour as a site to be exploited commercially, the harbour company should look for new ideas by creating a waterfront forum with the yacht clubs and the existing commercial operators there to promote the harbour’s massive potential for high-yield marine tourism.
There are real benefits in this – particularly for the neighbourhood. For example, the country’s largest sailing event, the Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta, generated €3 million in revenues for the locality.
It is a long-standing criticism that the town is physically disconnected from the harbour by the railway line that runs in front of it. The council is covering sections of the line to encourage people down to see what’s happening on the water.
With such investment it should be possible for local shops – and one in five is boarded up – to pitch at the needs of the harbour and visiting ships.
That’s the hope if plans to attract cruise liners come off, but what’s also required is to develop the sort of jobs that cannot be shipped abroad.
Think of the Pfizer plant in Dún Laoghaire, the cost to the Exchequer of each of those 210 or so jobs, and the ease with which they left. For a similar investment, we could have developed 200 jobs that would stick to Dún Laoghaire like limpets because this is where their natural advantage exists.
These employers would not be in the old, hunter/gatherer lifestyles such as fishing, but in activity tourism, niche manufacturing and services.
As a working “for instance”, a sail-making firm was established in Crosshaven, Co Cork, in 1974. It’s still there, a thriving small Irish business that designs and exports sails all over the world. It grew thanks to the enterprise of a local initiative by Royal Cork YC to develop festivals and events such as the world-renowned Cork Week regatta.
Dún Laoghaire has no such marine cluster and it would be appropriate to see derelict harbour buildings used as incubators for sail-makers, riggers, marine electronics and mechanical workshops.
These businesses already exist, employing up to 200 people, most of whom currently work out of vans.
The East Pier is a golden opportunity for a regulated commercial activity, but this potential is limited by the absence of services on the pier such as adequate water supply and power outlets.
Another opportunity is an adequate landing stage. The experience of other ports with cruise-liner traffic is that once the big ships arrive, smaller ones usually follow. There is a market for super yacht/mega-yacht boats. These were calling and using the Dublin City Mooring facility on the Liffey until it was closed, and have now mostly stopped calling into the east coast altogether.
A suitable landing stage could also be used for events such as boat shows, all centred around the Carlisle Pier.
In addition, there are currently no opportunities for the general public to try sailing without having to take a course or join a club.
The French system of publicly-owned boats available to hire at a small cost allows sailing for schools and the general public, and it’s one that could be successfully transferred to Dún Laoghaire.
Research and the experience in France and elsewhere points to the need to establish a maritime activity centre as a maritime cluster to nurture new marine businesses.
Investing in the harbour in this way could allow Dún Laoghaire to provide an ideal base for tall ships to winter and to receive regular maintenance. There is only one small area given over to boat-yard activities in Dún Laoghaire, yet there are over 1,000 boats based in the harbour.
By allowing the expansion of yard facilities, a fully-functioning boat yard could provide full-time employment for a large number of people.
The move from commercial port to leisure harbour, the combined marine leisure groups – such as the well-established yacht clubs with over 5,000 sailors, the maritime museum, marine trade and other users – could band together and move forward as a united users group rather than competing interests.
One example of this is the staging of a national maritime festival, a first for this island nation.
It would be a perfect chance to put to good use the new, unique 8,500sqm space presented by the Carlisle Pier, the country’s only exhibition space with sea on all sides.
It may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.
In July, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council spent over €1 million on a festival of world cultures.
The budget figure overran by €400,000. If such funding is available, surely future festivals could encompass the town’s main asset and a neglected maritime culture too?
What’s required now is a vision to shape this harbour for the next 200 years. There is enough interest in the harbour to let the people of Dublin really push the boat out.
Minister Dempsey’s review couldn’t have come at a better time.
David O’Brien (45) is a sailing correspondent of
The Irish Times
and editor of
Ireland Afloat
magazine. He is chairman of the Irish Marine Federation and a member of the National Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire.
