#CruiseBerth - Objections to the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company's ambitious cruise liner terminal proposals face number more than 150 ahead of oral hearings into the plan, as The Irish Times reports.
And one submission, from the Water Wags Sailing Club, even draws on marine engineering experience to argue that the scheme as it stands poses "real and significant risks to the stability of the harbour piers".
The club's position was among a host of submissions to An Bord Pleanála along with those of local sailors, the harbour's long-standing yacht clubs and their representative body the Dun Laoghaire Combined Clubs (DLCC), which organised a briefing session earlier this week to advise members on making their own voices heard.
Complaints have highlighted environmental concerns around the dumping of silt from channel dredging necessary to accommodate larger cruise ships, and the impact a next-generation cruise liner terminal would have on recreational and sports boating in the South Dublin harbour, with campaigners previously calling for an 'alternative vision' for Dun Laoghaire that makes a virtue of its existing benefits.
Indeed, along with its own submission, the DLCC has made a proposal to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that the harbour be protected "as an outstanding recreational harbour and sporting amenity of national significance", and that the former Stena HSS terminal be repurposed as a 'National Watersports Academy' along the lines of the recently opened world-class facility at Pwllheli in North Wales.
The DLCC's presentation to DLRCoCo can be downloaded below.
