Plans for a ‘mini-city’ to be built on Poolbeg Peninsula including parts of Seán Moore Park and Irishtown Nature Park are causing controversy with local residents and politicians insisting that vital issues regarding public transport, traffic, infrastructure and soil contamination are being ignored.

At a recent briefing session, local residents claimed the City Council’s plan for a €1.5 billion town called South Bank where around 18,000 will live and work was premature given that it disregarded the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) Master plan and pre-empted the 2005 City Development Plan.

The DDDA plan addressed issues not examined by the City Council’s Poolbeg Framework which is on display until the 18th February. Of great concern is the fact that the new town will lead to significant construction on the site of the former municipal dump. The dump has been closed for 30 years and there has never been any monitoring of the land for contamination.

Residents are also concerned about the issue of further reclamation of the land around the peninsula which they say would go against EU environmental directives and interfere with tidal patterns, which could lead to flooding.

In addition, they questioned the validity of the plan’s provision for 20 per cent social housing in the South Bank area, given the well publicised loophole in planning which allows developers to offer an alternative site or cash payment to the local authority.

If the plan for Dublin’s own South Bank goes ahead, this bustling new area should be completed by 2025. At the meeting, community representatives raised the question of how these 18,000 new residents and workers would get access to the area. There was much laughter when they were told by Dublin City Council that South Bank residents would use the roundabout at Sean Moore Road. Anyone who already lives or works in the area is well aware that this would result in serious traffic chaos.

Local politicians John Gormley, Ruairí Quinn and Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association also laid out their opposition to Dublin City Council’s plans for South Bank.

Nine Principal Development areas
Area 1: Currently in Dublin Port ownership and operating as container store for Lo-Lo activity and along the Liffey. Future depends upon Port strategy.

Area 2: Central area of land in Port ownership. Vacant except for a local rowing club and storage. Adjoins private access to public highway.

Area 3: In dual ownership and tenancy (Dublin Port lease to IGB/Zoe development). Immediate potential for redevelopment with the relocation of the glass factory, current planning applications on the Zoe lands.

Area 4 and Area 6: Port ownership currently occupied by cement works and scrap metal merchants. High potential for change and value due to adjacency of the Liffey though bounded to the south by Ringsend power plant. Adjacent to treatment ponds.

Area 5: New ESB Ringsend power plant and possibility of new thermal waste treatment plant (on Port lands). Forms part of a ‘hard’ core of utilities that include Areas 5 and 7.

Area 7: Owned and occupied by the Port for container storage with small amount of industry. Prime high value location overlooking Dublin Bay with views towards the Wicklow Mountains. Constrained by future thermal treatment plant.

Area 8: Owned and occupied by Dublin City Council’s tertiary waste water treatment plant. The plant is a new fixed facility, integrating with Sutton pumping station and north Dublin sewers.
Area 9: A large area in ESB ownership with good potential for change.

(Extract from Poolbeg Framework Plan Dublin South Bank 2003)