AFTER publication of a highly critical report by An Taisce on Temple Bar, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, has publicly voiced his confidence in the State's highest profile urban renewal project.
An Taisce this week described the Dublin project as "a failure in terms of conservation and sustainability".
In a 62 page report, which cautions against adopting this model for other urban based rejuvenation schemes, An Taisce says it has been a disappointment "in spite of the best of intentions, the application of considerable talent and enormous resources".
Describing Temple Bar as "a small area in the centre of Dublin", the report acknowledges that the investment of at least £200 million in public and private funds had generated more than 1000 jobs and created some of the most exciting architecture the city has seen" in recent years.
"The investment per acre falls in the range of £7 million. This is so large that it is not supportable countrywide or EU wide," it says, adding that the administration and marketing budget of £2.1 million in 1995 was greater than anything spent on the much larger Smithfield rejuvenation project.
According to An Taisce, there have also been "very significant losses" in terms of architectural conservation, "including a plethora of demolitions, drastic alterations of buildings of distinction and numerous breachings of the skyline", notably the Clarence Hotel.
The report lists 34 "demolitions or guttings" involving Temple Bar Properties, the state company overseeing the area's development as Dublin's cultural quarter. But it also gives TBP credit for a number of "exemplary" conservation schemes and the creation of new public spaces.
However, An Taisce blames the company for its involvement in facilitating the spread of pubs which were now shaping "the ambience and character of the area and its clientele". Driven by the availability of tax incentives, the publicans have become the "lead economic sector" in the quarter.
"It is part of contemporary tourism marketing that there must be a theme associated with every investment. Temple Bar is a victim of this fashion," it says. "Instead of the unselfconseious and uncontrived bohemianism which was characteristic of the area, there is now a melange of contrived themes."
The expansion of pubs and hotels in Temple Bar, involving almost 20 individual projects, "has increased the numbers drinking in the quarter to the point that some residents and many visitors regard it at a minimum as uncongenial and at worst threatening", the report says.
It suggests the policy of charging full market rent for retail units in the area and of selling these units to investors would damage its "alternative" character, and it asks what happened to a 1993 scheme to retain 40 per cent of these units for start up businesses at affordable rents.
An Taisce concludes that the expenditure of £200 million, including a large amount of EU funding, "will see the area transformed from bohemian to chic. It is our contention that it could have been redeveloped at a smaller cost, in terms of both economics and conservation loss, with no loss of character.
However, the Minister described the entire project as a "tremendous success", saying he was convinced that the approach to urban regeneration in Temple Bar had been "a key contributor to making Dublin what it is today - one of the most exciting cities in Europe".
"I would not for one minute suggest that we have got everything right here," Mr Howlin said. But he insisted the overall result was "a practical example of the success that can be achieved by combining an imaginative local initiative with Government support and recognition".
The Minister was speaking at the opening of a major architectural exhibition on the project, entitled The Power of An Idea, which continues at three venues until August 9th. One element, at The Ark, is specifically designed to involve children. Places can be booked by telephoning (01) 670 7788.
