St Stephens Green
Dec | April 28, 2008Long time visitors to this site may remember a post about the plans to dig up large parts of St Stephens Green for the construction of underground dart and metro stations as part of the Transport 21 plan. Over the last two years those plans have not changed. Now the mainstream media is getting agitated by the plan with Irish Times Environment Editor Frank McDonald writing a long piece in Saturdays paper entitled “The tearing of the Green”.
In the article McDonald outlines the plans for construction at the Green:
- A quarter of the park would be devastated by the scheme.
- The removal of the landmark Fusiliers’ Arch at its northwestern corner, dozens of mature trees and a large part of the lake. The Arch would be restored after construction was completed.
- The “cut-and-cover” project would take at least three years to complete
- A 200-metre stretch along the northern side of the Green would be turned into a construction site.
- Elements of the two stations above-ground
McDonald describes the Office of Public Works (OPW) as being “aghast” when it was first shown the plans. He also discusses the cost of the plans, how the line to St Stephens Green is duplicated by a new Luas connector above ground and how Dublin could get “more than 100 kilometres of street-running Luas lines for the price of Metro North”.
The article is well worth reading by anyone who cares about the character of the city.
Frank’s article was long on diatribe but short on useful suggestions. No-one wants to see the green dug up but the fact is building a metro is a messy business that requires large amounts of space. Building two underground train stations and a terminus takes even more space. Eggs, omelets and all that.
yes but would you cook your ommlette in a Waterford crystal bowl? The only reason they want to dig up the Green is because it is the easiest solution for engineers. For example they could put the station under GPO whule it is being revamped into a shopping center or under derelict buildings around Harcourt but those options require more work, more care and possibly the purchase of sites. The Green is just the easy option for the RPA.
UNDERGROUND RAILWAY MEANS UNDERGROUND STATION OBVIOUSLY SO UNDER GPO WHILE THEY ARE ALREADY WORKING ON SITE IS A STROKE OF GENIUS LETS LAUNCH A ” SAVE THE GREEN ” CAMPAIGN NOT THE GREEN PARTY OF JOHN GORMLESS OF COURSE BUT STEPHENS GREEN FOR ALLFUTURE GENERATIONS OF DUBS .
PS IF GOING INTO TOWN I WOULD RATHER ARRIVE AT GPO TERMINUS THAN BEING STUCK OVER ON A VANDALISED AND REDUCED STEPHENS GREEN . CITY CENTRE GPO TERMINUS SIMPLE BUT GENIUS .!
DECLAN IN FAIRNESS TO MARK I DO NOT THINK HE WAS REFERRING TO COOKING THE OMLETTE BUT RATHER TO THE SAYING ” YOU CANT MAKE AN OMLETTE WITHOUT CRACKING AN EGG ” . STILL MARK NO REASON TO TEAR UP THE GREEN . LETS GO GPO . !
[...] this but I would not be against the idea of removing the monuments in the same way I am against the destruction of large parts of St Stephens Green. Statues and Spires can be restored with a few weeks work and I’d rather see them removed [...]
dont know what [...] this is all about but then again neither does [...] this maybe he is
from meath moron