The annual Open House Dublin is on again this year, in fact it’s on next weekend October 8th to 11th. It’s a wonderful opportunity to visit some of the iconic buildings in Dublin. For photographers there is the opportunity to go up onto the viewing deck of Liberty Hall to take photos of the city skyline. For political fans there is the chance to visit Leinster House and Government Buildings. It’s well worth having a look at the schedule, some buildings require an advance booking others are on a first come first served basis.

While searching around the radio dial for something to listen to last night I stumbled across a new radio station, Christmas FM on 89.9 FM. Playing Christmas music 24 hours a day in the Dublin area and online until December 26th.

One solid month of Christmas music 24 hours a day may seem like a bit much for most people but it all for a good cause. They are collecting money for ISPCC. All revenue from the broadcast goes to charity. If you are feeling in the Christmas spirit and cant find a decent Christmas carol on your iPod or radio then tune in here and you’ll hear Christmas songs you never knew existed (and probably wish didn’t).

As Brandon mentioned in an earlier post the Dublin Improv Group held it’s slow motion egg and spoon race down Henry Street on Saturday afternoon. A fun and unusual event that was well received by on lookers who were puzzled and amused but wanted to join in. Here are some photos.

Newstalk today carried a news story at 6pm about the removal of historic monuments for several years as part of the development of the public transport infrastructure in Dublin historic monuments. Listed in the report were the O’Connell Monument, the Parnell Monument and the Spire on O’Connell Street. 

I’m surprised at 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 than risk their collapse into a trench or being hit by cranes and diggers. A city center park full of mature trees takes several decades.

Add to that the rumour that the Guinness Brewery at St James’s Gate may close and move to a green field site in Clondalkin (more about that will surely come after Diageo hold a press conference tomorrow) then this year may be a good time to visit Dublin before it becomes a building site.

On a side note, a recording of Minister Dempsey was played where he said you cant make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Does he read this blog? OK, probably not but you never know

Long 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.

Dublin GAA will hold a press conference later this morning in the Shelbourne Hotel where the future plans for the Dublin football team will be officially unveiled.Speaking last night a GAA official revealed that the Dublin football team will not take part in the upcoming GAA season but will instead spend the summer in a skills conversion camp outside Barcelona where they will focus on switching codes. The final aim of this conversion camp is for the team to join the English FA leagues at Championship or 2nd division level and gain promotion to the Premiership within 5 years.”Your average GAA player has the skills to make it at the top level in any sport” explained the unnamed official. “They show a level of dedication and pride that has been lacking in English sport for many years now so both ourselves and the English FA believe an injection of fresh blood into the league would be beneficial to the Premiership”. The deal will also benefit the GAA for whom it would provide a welcome income boost and help quell calls for professionalism within the GAA codes. Players who wanted to be paid could be moved to the Dublin team for a season or two.Croke Park would be the home venue for the new team which unfortunately could mean there will be no slots available in the schedule for the Irish national rugby or soccer teams to play games as well as the cancellation of Celine Dion, Prince and Westlife concerts. The new team will be co-sponsored by both Ulster Bank and the Cork Evening Echo newspaper.

The BBC 5 day forecast today reaches to Monday (St Patrick’s Day) and tells us that the rain over the weekend should pass by Monday and there will be sunny spells with a max temp of 6C or 42F.

So the weather is expected to be dry but cold. If you are travelling to Dublin and plan to attend the parade make sure to pack a warm hat, scarf and gloves since you will probably be standing on the same spot along the route for 2 to 3 hours.

Just in time for rush hour today Pearse Street station has been closed due to storm damage and will remain closed for the rest of the day. Rail services are running as normal through the station so go to the next nearest station and travel from there.

Iarnród Éireann advises customers that due to storm damage to the roof of Dublin’s Pearse Station, the station has been closed for the remainder of the day.

Rail services will operate normally, through Pearse Station, but will not stop at Pearse Station.

Update: The station reopened this morning.

A flood warning has been issued for Dublin this weekend due to high tides and stormy conditions. Sandbags are being delivered to the Clontarf and Sandymount and the Liffey Boardwalk may be closed on Saturday but it will be Monday morning when the risk of flooding is at its greatest.

The Port Tunnel is reported to be closed all day and into rush hour tonight due to problems discovered with the Scada safety system this morning. This system seems to be responsible for all the safety features in the tunnel so any problems with it pretty much wipe out all the safety mechanisms in the tunnel.

As a result of this you can expect heavy goods vehicles in the city this evening adding to rush hour traffic jams just a day after massive delays caused by the temporary closure of Pearse St due to an unsafe building in Trinity. You may want to consider working late this evening