PLANS FOR A new berth at Dún Laoghaire catering for huge cruise liners would quadruple the number of passengers coming through the port each year.
The Dún Laoghaire Cruise Stakeholder Group today said it wanted to copy the “Copenhagen model” and bring 800,000 cruise passengers to Dublin annually – with at least half arriving via Dún Laoghaire.
The group, which includes local businesses, the local council and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, has drawn up plans for a 390m berth to provide for the largest cruise ships.
It would be only the second harbour in Ireland – after Cobh in Cork – equipped for vessels over 300m long.
The group predicted the berth would provide a €27 million boost to the Dún Laoghaire local economy – both from the 400,000 passengers it was forecasting and the same number again in onlookers.
It is expected that for every cruise passenger, at least one Irish resident will be attracted to the harbour to look at the ships,” the group said.
‘Strategic infrastructure’
The plans will go straight to An Bord Pleanála as the berth is considered “strategic infrastructure”. They are expected to be lodged before the end of the month.
Some 30,000 cruise passengers arrived at Dún Laoghaire in 2013 and last year the number rose to 100,000.
The proposal was designed to compliment a similar plan to expand cruise operations at Dublin Port, which welcomed 135,000 passengers last year. It was estimated that helped inject €50 million into the local economy.
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