The State is expected to fund up to £12 million of the cost of a Dun Laoghaire marina, which is now estimated at £18 million.
The consortium awarded the contract is confident of raising the balance of £6 million from private investors. The 680-berth marina will provide 140 new jobs during construction and 50 when complete in March 2001, the backers said at a press conference in the harbour yesterday.
Berths on the proposed marina will also be dearer than the lease cost on existing moorings, but the sport of sailing, the harbour and the borough will benefit "enormously", the backers said.
The baseline cost is expected to be £225 per metre of vessel, with no VAT added - adding an estimated £500 a year to boat-owning costs when other services are taken into account, according to the company awarded the contract, Marina Marketing and Management Ltd.
A foreshore licence application has been lodged with the Department of Marine and Natural Resources and a decision is expected within the next month.
The last-quoted figure for construction cost of the marina was £12 million, with some £3.85 million of this supported by Exchequer/EU funding. However, it is now expected that the breakwater construction alone will cost £12 million. The balance of £8.14 million of this will be provided from the harbour company, a spokesman said.
The former junior marine minister and Dun Laoghaire TD, Mr Eamon Gilmore, expressed concern yesterday about the escalating costs of both the construction and the berths and the effect on small boat owners. While welcoming the project in principle, he called on the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company to reassure the public this would still be a public rather than a private marina.
The Dun Laoghaire Combined Clubs (DLCC), representing six sailing clubs in the harbour and some 5,000 sailors, has also expressed concern about the cost to boat owners. More than 200 of the existing mooring holders in the harbour will have to give up their lease to make way for the construction, and some could find themselves paying up to 20 per cent of the capital cost of their vessel on berthing charges, Mr Martin Crotty, chairman of the DLCC, said yesterday.
The DLCC, which was one of a shortlist which tendered for the management contract, welcomes the initiative which it has been seeking for 15 years. However, it is still in negotiations with the harbour company about several issues. Prices as quoted are "well above the average" in the east coast area, said Mr Crotty.
Announcing the contract for the construction in Dun Laoghaire yesterday, Mr Philip Lynch, chairman of the State's Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, said it would have a tremendous spin-off, affecting house prices in the area.
Marina Marketing and Management Ltd is described as a "special purpose company" which is "Irish-owned", with local sailors as the major shareholders.
Chaired by Mr John Bourke, international sailor, chairman of Irish Life and Permanent and holder of several directorships, it is headed up by Mr Michael O'Leary, chairman of Impress Digital Communications and also an international sailor.
It also involves Mr Tom Power, of Rapport Marketing Communications and MCM UK Ltd.
No details of how the funding is to be raised were given at yesterday's press conference in the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company offices. The project went through an extensive planning process, including an oral hearing last October, when the harbour company said it would be a public amenity which would not be restricted to members of sailing clubs. Additional parking for 290 cars will be provided and there will be an additional half a mile of promenade.
Minimum disruption will be caused during construction, which is expected to begin in October and continue throughout the next sailing season, Marina Marketing said.
Asked about the possible impact on traffic, Mr Michael Hanahoe, chief executive of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, said "we are not here to solve the traffic".
The harbour company and Marina Marketing denied that it could result in sailing becoming more elitist, and said that hundreds of children would still be able to use the harbour for training. It would benefit boating generally.
While sailing was largely confined to existing clubs in the harbour until now, the marina would be "open to all" and would make the water more accessible, Mr Bourke said.
The harbour now accommodates fewer than 600 moorings, some 300 of which are controlled by yacht clubs.
