One of the most far-reaching urban renewal projects ever planned in Ireland, a £1.5 billion plan to regenerate the Grand Canal Docks area of Dublin, in Ringsend south of the Liffey, was formally inaugurated yesterday by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
When completed, the project will provide 1,200 new homes, 5,000 jobs and more than one million square feet of offices, shops, restaurants, pubs, hotels and leisure facilities, according to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.
Mr Lar Bradshaw, the DDDA's chairman, said he was confident the Grand Canal Harbour would become "one of the jewels in the crown of Docklands", promoting waterside living in a balanced, mixed-use urban quarter.
He pointed out that 60 per cent of new developments in the area would be dedicated to residential, retail and social amenities, including the provision of some 200 units of "social or affordable" housing for people on Dublin Corporation's waiting lists.
Before anything can be built, however, the DDDA must carry out what Mr Bradshaw described as "the largest land recovery scheme ever undertaken in Ireland", to decontaminate the 20-acre former gasworks site which lies at the heart of the site.
"The strategic importance of this site cannot be overestimated", he said. "With its central location, unique waterfront views, strong local communities and colourful history, this large site has massive potential for regeneration on a large scale".
The DDDA's chairman said the extension of Section 25 planning powers to the Grand Canal Docks would greatly assist the area's rapid development, in line with a draft planning scheme now being prepared and due to be finalised this autumn.
"During the next 12 months, we will be releasing phases of joint-venture, public-private partnership development over the first 15 acres", he said, adding that developers whose schemes complied with the planning scheme would receive rapid approval.
In his speech, the Taoiseach described the start of the Grand Canal Harbour marketing programme as "a great day for the people of Docklands and for the Docklands Development Authority", adding: "Temple Bar, eat your heart out".
He said a key measure of the project's success would be permanent jobs for local people in the
facilities to be built in the area. He was also glad that the National College of Ireland, providing lifelong learning, would be moving into Docklands in September 2001.
Mr Ahern said the Government was now building on the "remarkable success" of the International Financial Services Centre in and around the Custom House Docks to create a European "hub" of financial services in the Docklands area.
The fact that the Grand Canal Docks would be primarily used for housing met Government policy objectives to increase residential densities and provide social housing, he said.
"Well done to the DDDA in the way social and affordable housing are an integral part of the plans".
The Taoiseach also commended the authority for its commitment to a public procurement process in seeking joint-venture partners from the private sector, and said he was pleased it would be using its Section 25 powers to "fast-track" the development.
