The Dublin Community Blog

Anyone who commutes to work in and around Dublin will be all to familiar with the traffic jams, crowded trams or trains and delayed buses. They will also know the reason many people choose to drive to work is that there is no reliable, or in many cases simply no, public transport that they can use. The Dept of Transport today released a consultation document asking for input on the future of travel and transport in Ireland with large sections related to the vision of transport in Dublin by 2020. Improved public transport, more emphasis on cycling and walking,  and the possibility of congestion charging.

This document can be downloaded here and will be well worth a read by anyone who sees themselves still facing into the long commute to work in Dublin by 2020.

The Skyfest fireworks display that usually makes up part of the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin will be held in Cashel instead this year. In the past the event has drawn large crowds to the quays to watch the display and I personally was looking forward to the opportunity to take some cool photographs around the Custom House. This year the Rock Of Cashel will provide the back drop for the fireworks. It should be a spectacular venue but it is still a shame to see Dublin loose the event.

It is being reported that The Sunday Times property survey from yesterday showed property prices in Dublin have fallen by up to 27% in 2007. Unfortunately I did not get a copy of the paper yesterday so I’ve not been able to read the report but surely a 27% would be a crash of the most dramatic kind, certainly worthy of more than 3 paragraphs on an Irish internet news site?

I’m wondering if anyone in the real world is seeing such a dramatic drop in prices. If you are interested in buying property are you waiting an watching the price of your dream home drop towards your budget? If you are trying to sell are you slashing the prices and watching your property sit on the market for months on end?

Just heard on the radio that today is Car Free Day when people are encouraged to leave their cars at home and take public transport. Parnell Square East, Merrion Square West and the main road through Herbert Park will be closed to traffic with events taking place on all of them. The radio mentioned that Parnell Square will have music and bands, Merrion will have skateboarding and break-dancing and Herbert Part will have a display of steam engines.

Dublin Fire Brigade and the army bomb disposal unit are at the scene of a fire at gates of the Phoenix Park. A pit of chemical phosphorous was exposed on a building site on Infirmary Road. The site used to be part of a military base, I wonder if it is an old British one with phosphorous buried there since World War I? The fire is out now but there is still a risk that more phosphorous could ignite. Traffic in the area is being diverted through the Phoenix Park.

If anyone is in the area with a camera they might get some cool and interesting photographs, if they can get a view of the site, but don’t do anything silly, phosphorous is dangerous.

It was confirmed today that the Green Luas line will be further extended from the still to be completed terminus in Cherrywood all the way out to Bray. It is hoped that the line will be completed by 2015.

The Bray Chamber are naturally delighted, but, being devils advocate, I have to ask if this is really the best way to extend the Luas? After all Bray is currently served by the Dart, which the Luas will interconnect with in Bray as well as at the new inter-connector to be built at St Stephens Green. I wonder would other parts of Dublin have been better served by a new rail/tram link than Bray? Does anyone feel their area is getting overlooked in the public transport plans?

The annual Peoples Photography exhibition is on this weekend around St Stephens Green. A mix of amateur and professional photographers this exhibition always has something to catch the eye. I promising myself that one year I will chance my arm and enter it and each year I chicken out and just go in to see much better photographs than mine.

Blocks are allocated around the North, East and South of the Green, there are none on the West where the Luas is. If you are in town and have the time don’t forget to walk to the South side of St Stephens Green. Each year I felt sorry the exhibitors there, whose photos are as good as anyone else’s but they are a little isolated from the main crowds on the North side.

While reading some headlines on BreakingNews.ie I came across a story about 50 major infrastructural projects that have been proposed under a new fast-track process designed to bypass the normal planning system. Included in the story is the sentence

One company has also reportedly put forward plants (sic) for a cable-car service in Dublin city.

I was curious so I googled “Cable Car Dublin” and came across the following on irish-architecture.com from February 2006

A private consortium is proposing to develop a cable car service along the Liffey Quays in Dublin, running between Heuston Station and Docklands. The cable cars would transport sightseers at heights approaching 80 metres (264ft) above the river from the Guinness Brewery near Heuston to a terminal located near the planned national conference centre at Spencer Dock

Yes the picture makes it look as bad as I imagined. It reminds me of a tacky cable car ride I took in Disney World several years ago. This is not a major infrastructural project, it’s a tourist trap created by some private company, so I don’t understand why it would be fast tracked through the planning process. I can see the instant appeal where people will go “Oh cool” but I can imagine the novelty would wear off pretty quickly.

Karen, RedMum and myself met on Friday evening for the release of the last Harry Potter novel. During the evening we wandered around several of the book shops in town and took photos of what was going on. I was most surprised by the number of adults at the event. Sure there were lots of kids, but most of those standing in queues outside shops at 12:30am were adults in their mid to late 20s.

Red Mum has an excellent write up on the evening, so I’ll point you there for full details. For my part I’ve added photographs of the night to this blogs group on flickr.

On top of the major incident in Dun Laoghaire there has also been an unrelated incident at the Natural History Museum where a staircase has collapsed injuring up to 21 people this morning with 10 being taken to hospital. The granite staircase is not usually used by the public.

The incident occurred during a private training course for primary-school teachers in an area at the rear of the museum that is not normally used by the public.

A fleet of 10 ambulances and several units of the Fire Brigade were at the museum and traffic restrictions were in place between the museum and nearby hospitals. The museum is now closed and could take 3 weeks to reopen. A health and safety investigation is taking place.

Update: There were 21 primary school teachers at the event, it appears only 10 or 11 were injured.