Following on from our front page feature in the last issue, John Cavendish brings us up-to-date on the story behind the IGB and Fabrizia sites
Following on from our front page feature in the last issue, John Cavendish brings us up-to-date on the story behind the IGB and Fabrizia sites
The location of the Irish Glass Bottle Plant, now South Wharf and the neighbouring Fabrizia site, were created by reclaiming land from Sandymount Strand between 1960 and 1979. It is a huge area of the former strand, owned by the people of Ireland, some 300 to 400 acres which was reclaimed from the sea for the creation of a city dump.
This dump was unregulated and contains to this day dangerous and hazardous waste. The area lies between Seán Moore Road and the new foreshore to the south of Seán Moore Park, also created by the former dump. The Fabrizia and Irish Glass sites total around 55.46 hectares.
The foreshore can only be reclaimed by Ministerial order; for part of the dump at Sandymount there was no such order. In fact, there were numerous questions in the Dáil about that and especially about the area of the strand now containing the Fabrizia site, which was never meant to be filled in at all and extended far beyond the agreed infill line with Dublin Corporation, as Dublin City Council was then called.
A park was given to the people of the area as compensation in 1980. This was called Sandymount Beach Park, but after the East Link Toll bridge opened the roads to and from it were named respectively Alfie Byrne Road and Seán Moore Road. In 1987, at the behest of Fianna Fáil, Sandymount Beach Park was renamed Seán Moore Park.
Twelve and a half acres, south of the Irish Glass Bottle Plant, now owned by Fabrizia, were obtained from Dublin Port by the IDA to create light industry. Allied Irish Banks acquired it from the IDA around 1989, it is believed for a sum less than £30,000.
The land remained on all the O.S maps of the area as AIB Sports Grounds, until 1998. In October 1998 the field in question was sold by tender for a reported £23 million.
In May 2000, Fabrizia applied to Dublin City Council for permission to build almost 2 million square feet of mixed development. This application should have been decided on within two months, but there followed many discussions with the Council personnel and requests for ‘further information’ and changes to the original scheme.
Fabrizia initially applied for permission for 16 office blocks and a 30-storey glass-clad tower beside the Irish Glass site. Dublin City Council received over 1,000 objections from local residents and other interested parties for this initial application in early 2000.
Fabrizia has persisted with the proposals, which are now to include a shopping mall on the foreshore. The new Planning Number is 4996/04, which was granted permission by the Council. Following many objections, this decision is now under review by An Bord Pleanála.
The former MEP for Dublin, Patricia McKenna, was quoted in March 2001 as being incensed by the developer’s cavalier attitude to Sandymount Strand, as this development would be detrimental to the wellbeing of the wildfowl.
She said then that she strongly disagreed with the EIS produced by Fabrizia, who stated that “any birds inhabiting this vicinity will habituate to the additional people and lighting.”
BirdWatch Ireland also expressed concern that the large influx of people to Seán Moore Park was in conflict with environmental legislation since the Brent Geese, a protected species, use the park as a supplementary feeding ground and refuge in hostile weather.
The Environmental Protection Agency gave assurances to Fabrizia that a Waste Licence would not be required for the removal of the toxic material making up the ground of the former dump, and Dublin City Council has approved the proposal, as of April 2005.
Irish GlassBottle Co., now South Wharf, consists of the 25 acres between Fabrizia and Sean Moore Road. Dublin Corporation had licensed a glass factory there as jobs were needed in the area. Under the lease, this site was designated to glass production and recycling. Paul Coulson bought out a small glass firm, Ardagh Glass, which enabled him as a bona fide glass manufacturer to buy the Irish Glass Bottle lease, whose site was owned by Dublin Port Company. In November 2002, the company closed down, even though it was working at full capacity employing some 400 staff.
The closure of Irish Glass should not have come as too much of a surprise to Dublin City Council, because as far back as March 2001, according to the DEGW Poolbeg Project report of May 2006, they had issued briefs that called for “Urban Design and Land Use” studies which included the Poolbeg peninsula, (South Bank environs), the objective of the plan was “to provide for the development of existing large brownfield sites within a co-ordinated framework, creating attractive new urban places and sustainable densities linked to public transport.”
Ardagh Glass changed the name of the Company to South Wharf and they took legal action against Dublin Port to buy the lease, which had roughly sixty years to run.
It is now reported that the company has been sold to developer Bernard McNamara for €412 million, with the support of Dublin Docklands Development Authority as a quarter partner of the sale. Reports suggest that the Dublin Port Company will receive 33.6% of the proceeds and South Wharf shareholders will share the remainder, excluding transaction and legal costs estimated at €5m.
Rory Hearne, People Before Profit Alliance candidate in Dublin South East, is of the opinion that there are tax questions regarding the IGB deal. “It appears that the sale of the site will be done by transferring shares in a company. This could avoid the 9% investment property stamp duty and instead only 1% share duty would have to be paid. This would save the consortium €32 million, i.e. 8% of €412 million.
This development has the backing of Dick Gleeson, the chief Dublin City Planner, who sees it as in keeping with the Poolbeg Framework Plan. However, many local residents believe this draft plan is severely flawed. It has repeatedly been rejected by the community and the Councillors, so that it has no standing as a development tool.
In the unlikely event of it ever being adopted by the Council, the result would almost certainly be further conflict with Europe, which has already taken action against the Council for failure to implement the conservation measures stipulated under the Birds Directive.
Top: Picture taken about 1970. Crawford’s garage, now Winfield, is in the foreground, while the reclaimed land on which IGB and Fabrizia were sited is to the upper left. The map shows the current layout of the site.
Dear Madam
In the Christmas issue of ‘News Four’, reference was made to the ‘Fabrizia site, which was created by reclaiming land from Sandymount Strand’. Would somebody please answer the following questions for me:
• If the foreshore of Sandymount Strand belongs to the citizens and is under the care of the port authorities, how did we lose ownership when the Council came along and filled in a section of the strand with earth and boulders?
• Who assumed ownership of the filled in area and how?
• Who gave him/ her/ them the authority to sell the filled in land to Fabrizia?
• Was the land sold by public auction, private sale or tender and was the sale advertised?
• What was the purchase price?
• Who received the cheque and could we see a photocopy of it?
• Where did the money go?
Under the Freedom of Information Act, and in the best interests of public transparency, would the person in charge of these matters, or any of our hard working politicians, councillors, or council officials, please give succinct and direct answers to each and all of these questions, which information I am sure we are entitled to receive.
If landfill is in order, could I purchase a quantity of hardcore, earth and boulders and reclaim a selected half-acre of strand and build myself a cosy bijou, where I might while away my remaining inquisitive years and read my ‘News Four’?
P. Kavanagh