Developing Dublin’s docks 
by Jon Myles DUBLIN is set for a massive tourist boost after plans for a long-awaited national conference centre moved a step closer this week.
Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue announced the multi-million pound 2,000-seat centre could be up and running by 2007 as he put the construction work out to tender.
Under the plan, the Government will lease the building in return for the private sector funding its construction.
The construction of the centre is expected to take around two years and although no decision has been taken on as to the site the Custom House Docks area is expected to be one of the preferred sites.
Dublin remains the only European Union capital not to have such a facility. Several attempts to build one over the past 12 years have all ended in high-
profile failures.
The most recent attempt at Dublin’s Spencer Dock was abandoned in 2000 after ancillary hotel and apartment developments were refused planning permission.
Mr O’Donoghue is the third successive Minister for Tourism in eight years to identify the construction of a national conference centre in Dublin as a priority project. His predecessors Enda Kenny and James McDaid both failed to bring it beyond the planning stage.
Three private consortiums have so far expressed interest in building the new centre which was given the go-ahead by the Cabinet in June.
A Treasury Holdings/ Harry Crosbie consortium — whose plan at Spencer Dock was abandoned in 2000 - is again one of the main contenders to build the project. Treasury’s director of Development, Robert Pincknell confirmed the group was committed to putting in a bid.
Irish Hotels Federation President Jim Murphy predicted the conference centre could attract an additional 50,000 visitors to Ireland each year.
He said: “This fundamental piece of infrastructure was always viewed as a serious deficiency in Ireland’s offering abroad and it cannot be overstated how important the decision is for the future of the industry.”
Dublin Chamber of Commerce has estimated that the city’s economy is losing up to £40million a year and up to 30,000 visitors annually, by not having such
a facility to cater for international
gatherings.
In Britain cities such as Manchester and Birmingham are already bringing in millions of pounds in revenue from visitors to their state-of-the-art conference centres.
|
