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Displaying items by tag: property

#dublinport - At Dublin Port freight requiring physical checks after Brexit will, writes The Irish Times, be inspected in a warehouse formerly owned by businessman Harry Crosbie following an agreement signed by the State.

As part of contingency planning for the United Kingdom crashing out of the European Union without a deal next month, Dublin Port Company has signed a licensing agreement with the Office of Public Works to hand over use of a port-owned 13,000m warehouse on a five-acre site at the northeastern part of the port for Brexit-related checks.

The departure of the UK, the State’s closest trading partner, from the EU will lead to a huge increase in the number of UK imports requiring customs, health and safety clearance on their arrival into the port.

Eamonn O’Reilly, the port’s chief executive, confirmed it had licensed the property on Tolka Quay Road to the State, and that the OPW was fitting out the former Crosbie warehouse property and another seven-acre inspection area to be ready for Brexit-related checks after the UK’s departure on March 29th.

For more on this development, click here.

Published in Dublin Port

#Property - A sea view in scenic Greystones is just part of the appeal of Rowan Point at the Wicklow town’s Marina Village development.

The first phase of 58 apartments is now for sale off plans, with views either north to Bray Head, east to the sea or west to the Sugarloaf.

Prices range from €425,000 for first floor units to €950 for penthouses, and unique touches include local stone countertops.

The Irish Times has more on Rowan Point’s first phase HERE.

Published in Waterfront Property

#Property - Galway City Council has granted permission for the construction of new student accommodation on the former Topaz oil site in Galway Docks, as Galway Bay FM reports.

Two blocks of seven and eight storeys each would provide 345 bedrooms as well as space for business start-ups in the plans by Bonham Dock Limited.

However, a number of restrictions have been attached to the project, which constitutes a phase of the masterplan for a ‘New Galway’ between the docks and Ceannt Station rail yards.

Back in September, ambitions plans for floating student accommodation in the city’s cocks were ruled out by the Galway Harbour Company, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Published in Galway Harbour
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#Property - New Ross Boat Yard in Co Wexford is now on the market at a price point of €4 million.

With 230 metres of frontage on the River Barrow and easy access to the Nore and Suir (and by extension the South East Coast), the 1.62-hectare property also comes with a sizeable dry dock, one of only three in the Republic that can handle large commercial boats.

Additionally on the site is a 50-tonne marine travel lift and winter storage space or as many as 150 vessels, thanks to signifiant refurbishment over the last decade by its present owner.

With an annual turnover of €840,000, and planning permission in place to adapt the dry dock for year-round service, the boat yard is sure to be an attractive prospect.

CBRE Ireland has more on the property HERE.

Published in Waterfront Property
Tagged under

#Galway - Galway Harbour Company has ruled out any notion of floating student accommodation in the city’s docks.

According to Galway Bay FM, harbour CEO Eamon Bradshaw said lack of space in the inner docks was the reason for rejecting the proposal by a local property management firm in an effort to alleviate the accommodation crisis facing NUI Galway students.

Last month Winters Property said it was in talks to bring to the city two purpose-build apartment barges, with a capacity of more than 400 between them.

The company’s managing director Enda McGuane also said he was discussing the possibility of mooring at the private Mud Dock owned by Capt Sam Field-Corbett, the champion of waterside accommodation behind the Naomh Eanna restoration.

Published in Galway Harbour
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#Galway - A property management firm in Galway believes a solution to the city’s rental crisis for students could be found in the form of large-scale floating accommodation, according to The Irish Times.

Winters Property says it could have two such purpose-built apartment barges, with capacity for more than 400 NUI Galway students between them, in Galway Docks within weeks.

The barges are developed by Liverpool-based Bibby Maritime for use in the oil and gas sector and corporate events, and the company currently has two such vessels available.

But planning permission is another matter, with berthing space at a premium in the city and priority given to commercial traffic.

Winters Property’s managing director Enda McGuane says he is in discussions with Capt Sam Field-Corbett, waterside accommodation advocate behind the Naomh Eanna restoration, about the feasibility of using his privately owned Mud Dock as a mooring location.

The Irish Times has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Galway Harbour
Tagged under

#CorkHarbour - More than three acres of Cork docklands are coming to market, as the Irish Examiner reports.

The lands comprise a warehouse property between Monahan Road and Centre Park road east of the city centre, in an area already set for transformation between the revamped Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the new Marina Park regeneration project, adjacent to Cork City Marina by the former showgrounds.

Commercial and residential developers alike are expected to express interest in the 3.31-acre site, zoned for mixed use, and with a guide price of €1.2 million per acre.

Interest in this part of the city is growing with the imminent move of the Port of Cork downriver — and city planners are already meeting with potential buyers for the port’s historic buildings on Custom House Quay.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

Published in Cork Harbour

#WaterfrontProperty - The Galway Advertiser has details of a detached family home near Barna with views over Galway Bay on the market for €570,000.

The waterfront house sits on a half-acre site and comes with spacious rooms featuring south-facing windows, designed "to allow free flow" through the home.

Also worth noting is the large attic with potential for conversion, ad the planned gardens between the house and its spectacular vista over the bay.

The Galway Advertiser has more on this property HERE.

Published in Waterfront Property
Tagged under

#Property - A prime seafront site in the South Dublin suburb of Booterstown is on the market for €1 million, as the Irish Independent reports.

Located between the Rock Road and the Dart line and adjacent to the nature reserve, the five-acre site is described by agents Knight Frank as a "unique development opportunity" with "spectacular" views of Dublin Bay.

The lands comprise two areas zoned 'objective Z9' and 'objective F', both of which require preservation of open space and recreational amenity under the respective developments plans of Dublin City and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown councils.

The Irish Independent has more on the story HERE.

Published in Waterfront Property

#WaterfrontProperty - Aberystwyth Marina and its 150 berths in West Wales are on the market, and the whole lot could be yours for just £2.5 million (€2.9 million), according to Wales Online.

The 23-acre marina, which has planning permission for an extra 40 boat moorings, reportedly has an annual turnover of more than £300,000, and is the first marina in the UK to be available on the open market for more than five years.

Located on the banks of the River Rheidol as it flows into Cardigan Bay, Aberystwyth Marina has the added benefit of being just a day's crossing of the Irish Sea from the East Coast of Ireland and our bustling sailing scene.

But pretenders beware - current owner Merlin Developments is only looking to sell the business to an experienced and proven operator.

Wales Online has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Waterfront Property
Tagged under
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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - FAQS

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are geographically defined maritime areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources. In addition to conserving marine species and habitats, MPAs can support maritime economic activity and reduce the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

MPAs can be found across a range of marine habitats, from the open ocean to coastal areas, intertidal zones, bays and estuaries. Marine protected areas are defined areas where human activities are managed to protect important natural or cultural resources.

The world's first MPA is said to have been the Fort Jefferson National Monument in Florida, North America, which covered 18,850 hectares of sea and 35 hectares of coastal land. This location was designated in 1935, but the main drive for MPAs came much later. The current global movement can be traced to the first World Congress on National Parks in 1962, and initiation in 1976 of a process to deliver exclusive rights to sovereign states over waters up to 200 nautical miles out then began to provide new focus

The Rio ‘Earth Summit’ on climate change in 1992 saw a global MPA area target of 10% by the 2010 deadline. When this was not met, an “Aichi target 11” was set requiring 10% coverage by 2020. There has been repeated efforts since then to tighten up MPA requirements.

Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on July 13th 2017 by the government of the Cook islands in the south Pacific, north- east of New Zealand. The area extends across over 1.9 million square kilometres. However, In September 2019, Jacqueline Evans, a prominent marine biologist and Goldman environmental award winner who was openly critical of the government's plans for seabed mining, was replaced as director of the park by the Cook Islands prime minister’s office. The move attracted local media criticism, as Evans was responsible for developing the Marae Moana policy and the Marae Moana Act, She had worked on raising funding for the park, expanding policy and regulations and developing a plan that designates permitted areas for industrial activities.

Criteria for identifying and selecting MPAs depends on the overall objective or direction of the programme identified by the coastal state. For example, if the objective is to safeguard ecological habitats, the criteria will emphasise habitat diversity and the unique nature of the particular area.

Permanence of MPAs can vary internationally. Some are established under legislative action or under a different regulatory mechanism to exist permanently into the future. Others are intended to last only a few months or years.

Yes, Ireland has MPA cover in about 2.13 per cent of our waters. Although much of Ireland’s marine environment is regarded as in “generally good condition”, according to an expert group report for Government published in January 2021, it says that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are of “wide concern due to increasing pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change”.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent MPA coverage by 2030, and moves are already being made in that direction. However, environmentalists are dubious, pointing out that a previous target of ten per cent by 2020 was not met.

Conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment has been mandated by a number of international agreements and legal obligations, as an expert group report to government has pointed out. There are specific requirements for area-based protection in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the OSPAR Convention, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Yes, the Marine Strategy Framework directive (2008/56/EC) required member states to put measures in place to achieve or maintain good environmental status in their waters by 2020. Under the directive a coherent and representative network of MPAs had to be created by 2016.

Ireland was about halfway up the EU table in designating protected areas under existing habitats and bird directives in a comparison published by the European Commission in 2009. However, the Fair Seas campaign, an environmental coalition formed in 2022, points out that Ireland is “lagging behind “ even our closest neighbours, such as Scotland which has 37 per cent. The Fair Seas campaign wants at least 10 per cent of Irish waters to be designated as “fully protected” by 2025, and “at least” 30 per cent by 2030.

Nearly a quarter of Britain’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species. However, a conservation NGO, Oceana, said that analysis of fishing vessel tracking data published in The Guardian in October 2020 found that more than 97% of British MPAs created to safeguard ocean habitats, are being dredged and bottom trawled. 

There’s the rub. Currently, there is no definition of an MPA in Irish law, and environment protections under the Wildlife Acts only apply to the foreshore.

Current protection in marine areas beyond 12 nautical miles is limited to measures taken under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives or the OSPAR Convention. This means that habitats and species that are not listed in the EU Directives, but which may be locally, nationally or internationally important, cannot currently be afforded the necessary protection

Yes. In late March 2022, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the Government had begun developing “stand-alone legislation” to enable identification, designation and management of MPAs to meet Ireland’s national and international commitments.

Yes. Environmental groups are not happy, as they have pointed out that legislation on marine planning took precedence over legislation on MPAs, due to the push to develop offshore renewable energy.

No, but some activities may be banned or restricted. Extraction is the main activity affected as in oil and gas activities; mining; dumping; and bottom trawling

The Government’s expert group report noted that MPA designations are likely to have the greatest influence on the “capture fisheries, marine tourism and aquaculture sectors”. It said research suggests that the net impacts on fisheries could ultimately be either positive or negative and will depend on the type of fishery involved and a wide array of other factors.

The same report noted that marine tourism and recreation sector can substantially benefit from MPA designation. However, it said that the “magnitude of the benefits” will depend to a large extent on the location of the MPA sites within the network and the management measures put in place.

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