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Displaying items by tag: Approved

Permission has been given by An Bord Pleanála for the next phase of Dublin Port's €320m masterplan to proceed, subject to conditions.

The project, reports RTE, includes the development of a new roll-on roll-off (RoRo) jetty, the lengthening of an existing river berth and the redevelopment of a deep-water container berth.

A new public "heritage zone" at the east end of the port with a structure that will have a viewing deck and a small performance space below is also included in the plan.

"The proposed development in the operational phase will give rise to impacts which are positive," the planning board said in its decision.

"It will facilitate the completion of a single unified Ro-Ro terminal and enhanced Lo-Lo facilities facilitating the removal of capacity constraints within Dublin Port, thereby enabling projected economic growth through increased capacity and improved port infrastructure to facilitate larger vessels."

However, the Docklands Business Forum said the decision "beggars belief".

It said it would consolidate the port's monopoly on the island, marginalising regional ports in the process.

It claimed the decision ignores the reality of Brexit and will greatly damage Ireland's most successful urban regeneration.

The forum also thinks the development will put a strain on local infrastructure adversely impacting the lives of those living and working in Docklands.

The MP2 Project development represents the second stage of three contained in the port's Masterplan 2040.

For further reading on the port's next phase of development click  here. 

Published in Dublin Port

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)