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Displaying items by tag: Sispar

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is currently reviewing plans to continue development of Greystones Harbour, WicklowNews.net reports.
NAMA, which took over the loans connected to the controversial €300 million development, has received Sispar's business plan for developing the proposed public walkway and retail units, as well as amenities for water users, further to proposals outlined in June.
It is expected that the limited development could be completed by September next year, pending NAMA approval. The agency is set to announce its decision next month.
WicklowNews.net has more on the story HERE.

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is currently reviewing plans to continue development of Greystones Harbour, WicklowNews.net reports.

NAMA, which took over the loans connected to the controversial €300 million development, has received Sispar's business plan for developing the proposed public walkway and retail units, as well as amenities for water users, further to proposals outlined in June.

Signs and buoys strung across Greystones harbour to keep mariners out of the new basin

 

It is expected that the limited development could be completed by September next year, pending NAMA approval. The agency is set to announce its decision next month.

WicklowNews.net has more on the story HERE.

Published in Greystones Harbour

Councillor Derek Mitchell says Greystones Harbour will be open in early September. The news follows a meeting between developers, Sispar, and the Town Council.

According to Mitchell, Sispar told a meeting of Town Councillors that they intend to open temporary facilities at Greystones Harbour by the end of August.

This will consist of:

· Taking down most hoardings and replacing with decorative railings thus opening up the views. The railings are already being made.

· Opening the harbour beach and second public slipway which is a calmer one.

· Fencing the entire area to be given to clubs for boat parking, greatly improving facilities for Anglers, Rowers, Sea Scouts, Divers and Sailors.

· Car Parking and wide access to the new South Pier.

· Starting building the Primary Health Centre by September 2011 and completing within 12 months. This will allow part of the public square to be finished.

· Provide some moorings.

· If there is no development of homes in 18 months time they will landscape the Public Park to the North.

They will review demand for the marina and hope to put in temporary facilities at least during 2012.

These items implement most of my plan and I welcome the good news of both good facilities and starting the Health Centre this year. There will be further consultation with harbour users and residents next week. The plan will then be finalised and implemented.

Published in Greystones Harbour
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Parts of the paused development of Greystones harbour are to be opened to the public, it has emerged.
According to The Irish Times, developers behind the €300 million plan are delivering a newsletter to residents in the Wicklow town listing its options for the harbour, the first phase of which was mostly completed this year.
These include landscaping parts of the site and reopening much of the area to public access while the second phase - which will include new facilities for clubs using the harbour - gets underway. Phase three is currently stalled dependent on funding.
Developer Sispar has already confirmed it will remove seconds of hoardings from around the harbour.
The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Parts of the paused development of Greystones Harbour are to be opened to the public, it has emerged.

According to The Irish Times, developers behind the €300 million plan are delivering a newsletter to residents in the Wicklow town listing its options for the harbour, the first phase of which was mostly completed this year.

These include landscaping parts of the site and reopening much of the area to public access while the second phase - which will include new facilities for clubs using the harbour - gets underway. Phase three is currently stalled dependent on funding.

Developer Sispar has already confirmed it will remove seconds of hoardings from around the harbour.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Greystones Harbour
The partially redeveloped Greystones Harbour could be opened to the public by mid-summer, The Irish Times reports.
Hoardings may come down to open the marine sections of the €300 million development while plans are finalised to complete the rest of the project - which includes new harbour facilities, commercial units, homes and recreational spaces.
A spokesperson for development consortium Sispar said the decision on finding the next phase rests with that National Assets Management Agency (Nama).
Wicklow County Council chairman Tom Fortune said he was hopeful that the hoardings around the harbour area would come down later this year “in part at least”.
The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

The partially redeveloped Greystones Harbour could be opened to the public by mid-summer, The Irish Times reports.

Hoardings may come down to open the marine sections of the €300 million development while plans are finalised to complete the rest of the project - which includes new harbour marina facilities, commercial units, homes and recreational spaces.

A spokesperson for development consortium Sispar said the decision on finding the next phase rests with that National Assets Management Agency (Nama).

Wicklow County Council chairman Tom Fortune said he was hopeful that the hoardings around the harbour area would come down later this year “in part at least”.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Greystones Harbour
Developers of Greystones Harbour and marina in County Wicklow, Sispar will hold an open day at the new harbour this Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm.

This is a chance, says local councillor Derek Mitchell, to see what has been achieved behind the hoardings in the last two years. "All marine works will be finished in 2010 and it is impressive to see what has been achieved. Currently much of the earth stored on top of D'Arcys field is being moved to beside the new harbour and it is quite mucky which limits the area which the public can access. However it will be a good chance to see behind the hoardings" Mitchell told Afloat.ie.

The next stage will start in January and finish in December 2011 after which most hoardings will come down. This stage consists of the 4 storey Health Centre, public square and free clubhouses for the Sea Scouts, Rowers, Divers, Sailors and Anglers.

Published in Greystones Harbour

Tuesday nights Greystones Town Council meeting was informed by Greystones harbour developer Sispar that the major work on the seawalls would be complete at the end of November 2010.

Following this, construction of the Health Centre, public square and Community buildings for the Sea Scouts, Rowers, Anglers, Divers and Sailors will start in January and should be complete in December 2011.

The hoardings which have blocked the view of the harbour and proposed marina will be taken down as these works are completed in 2011.

Local councillor Derek Mitchell (and a Ruffian keelboat champion) told Afloat.ie: "I welcome this as Greystones had been trying to get the harbour rebuilt for over a hundred years and this will create the best Community Harbour in Ireland".

Councillor Mitchell adds "The developer has applied to change some of the housing and add 34 houses to the North. Wicklow County Council is to vote on this in December. These houses may not be built yet, depending on the housing market, but access will be provided across the site to the North Beach and the new swimming beach there"

"The meeting was also told that the loan would be going in to NAMA, as all loans will, however this is not expected to make any difference to the project", he added.

Councillors asked for more Community tours so that people could see what has been achieved.

Published in Greystones Harbour

Sharks in Irish waters

Irish waters are home to 71 species of shark, skates and rays, 58 of which have been studied in detail and listed on the Ireland Red List of Cartilaginous fish. Irish sharks range from small Sleeper sharks, Dogfish and Catsharks, to larger species like Frilled, Mackerel and Cow sharks, all the way to the second largest shark in the world, the Basking shark. 

Irish waters provide a refuge for an array of shark species. Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry provides a habitat for several rare and endangered sharks and their relatives, including the migratory tope shark, angel shark and undulate ray. This area is also the last European refuge for the extremely rare white skate. Through a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project, Marine Institute scientists have been working with fishermen to assess the distribution, diversity, and monthly relative abundance of skates and rays in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays.

“These areas off the southwest coast of Ireland are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate,” said Dr Maurice Clarke of the Marine Institute. “This EMFF project has provided data confirming the critically endangered status of some species and provides up-to-date information for the development of fishery measures to eliminate by-catch.” 

Irish waters are also home to the Black Mouthed Catshark, Galeus melastomus, one of Ireland’s smallest shark species which can be found in the deep sea along the continental shelf. In 2018, Irish scientists discovered a very rare shark-nursery 200 nautical miles off the west coast by the Marine Institute’s ROV Holland 1 on a shelf sloping to 750 metres deep. 

There are two ways that sharks are born, either as live young or from egg casings. In the ‘case’ of Black Mouthed Catsharks, the nursery discovered in 2018, was notable by the abundance of egg casings or ‘mermaid’s purses’. Many sharks, rays and skate lay eggs, the cases of which often wash ashore. If you find an egg casing along the seashore, take a photo for Purse Search Ireland, a citizen science project focusing on monitoring the shark, ray and skate species around Ireland.

Another species also found by Irish scientists using the ROV Holland 1 in 2018 was a very rare type of dogfish, the Sail Fin Rough Shark, Oxynotus paradoxus. These sharks are named after their long fins which resemble the trailing sails of a boat, and live in the deep sea in waters up to 750m deep. Like all sharks, skates and rays, they have no bones. Their skeleton is composed of cartilage, much like what our noses and ears are made from! This material is much more flexible and lighter than bone which is perfect for these animals living without the weight of gravity.

Throughout history sharks have been portrayed as the monsters of the sea, a concept that science is continuously debunking. Basking sharks were named in 1765 as Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translated to the ‘big-nosed sea monster’. Basking sharks are filter feeders, often swimming with their mouths agape, they filter plankton from the water.

They are very slow moving and like to bask in the sun in shallow water and are often seen in Irish waters around Spring and early Summer. To help understand the migration of these animals to be better able to understand and conserve these species, the Irish Basking Shark Group have tagged and mapped their travels.

Remarkably, many sharks like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina have the ability to sense electricity. They do this via small pores in their skin called the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’ which are able to detect the tiny electrical impulses of a fish breathing, moving or even its heartbeat from distances of over a kilometre! Angel sharks, often referred to as Monkfish have a distinctively angelic shape, with flattened, large fins appearing like the wings of an angel. They live on the seafloor in the coastal waters of Ireland and much like a cat are nocturnal, primarily active at night.

The intricate complexity of shark adaptations is particularly noticeable in the texture of their skin. Composed of miniscule, perfectly shaped overlapping scales, the skin of shark provides them with protection. Often shark scales have been compared to teeth due to their hard enamel structure. They are strong, but also due to their intricate shape, these scales reduce drag and allow water to glide past them so that the shark can swim more effortlessly and silently. This natural flawless design has been used as inspiration for new neoprene fabric designs to help swimmers glide through the water. Although all sharks have this feature, the Leafscale Gulper Shark, Centrophorus squamosus, found in Ireland are specifically named due to the ornate leaf-shape of their scales.