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TWO MEMBERS OF Sinn Féin are to request a study into the possibility of building a cable car from Tallaght to the Hellfire Club as part of a tourism investment in the Dublin Mountains.
The Dublin Mountains project is a tourism strategy looking to emphasise tourism in parts of south Co Dublin, and has been called the council’s flagship tourism strategy.
The councillors, Cora McCann and Dermot Richardson both representing the Tallaght constituency, say that this would be “a great asset to the county and it would encourage visitors who don’t drive to visit the area”.
The councillors say that a cable car would also help ease traffic towards the Dublin Mountains, which Dermot Richardson believes could become “unsustainable” as a result of the tourism strategy, and parking would also be a problem.
When asked how the cable car would be financed, Richardson says that the job would be put out to tender for a company to install and run – and that “the council would not fund this”.
He says that the only costs to the council would be the rates paid and the cost of the study itself.
Like many different projects, they would tender it out and have no involvement in it. Rates would be paid to the council for the commercial side of the business.
He says that he’s already received a few emails from companies that would be interested, who have already begun discussing the ins and outs of building the cable cars.
“This has been on the agenda for the past three months now and we haven’t got to it yet. It was raised as a possibility by the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce over ten years ago, but at the time it was thought to be a bit ‘pie in the sky’.”
But now that there’s a tourism strategy and a renewed interest in the area, councillors and the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce are reconsidering it as a possibility again.
‘Flagship folly’
But McCann and Richardson’s fellow councillor Anne-Marie Dermody is completely against the cable car – and the Dublin Mountain project in general.
“For those unfamiliar with the Dublin Mountain flagship project, the budget of €19 million gives you some idea as to its scale, and when you consider we have over 8,500 on the Housing List within South Dublin County Council, you would be forgiven for thinking we live in a parallel universe.”
The Fine Gael councillor says that the Dublin Mountains project “is topical within the council” and says that the reality of the situation is that the money for the tourism project is better spent elsewhere.
To add to this, Sinn Féin now want to include a cable car from Tallaght to Rathfarnham, how utterly ridiculous is that?
The current budget of €19 million would quadruple immediately. This is complete madness and needs to stop before good money follows bad.
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The current driving route from Tallaght to the Hellfire Club. Google MapsGoogle Maps
“I am well aware of the potential the Dublin Mountains offer in terms of tourism, but why not have an interpretive centre, modest in size and budget, similar to those built up and down this country?
“[We could] then use the balance €19 million plus to concentrate on getting the fundamentals right and providing ‘proper and sustainable’ planning for housing throughout our county.”
Dermody says that there are still better uses for the council’s time and efforts, particularly in relation to the current housing crisis.
“This flagship project is somebody’s folly. Why not ask the many families who are this Christmas living in the Abberley Court Hotel how they feel about a cable car to take them from Tallaght to Rathfarnham?
Perhaps they could take their children there to put down the time before returning to the hotel room they call home.
A breath of fresh air
Last year, South Dublin County Council commissioned architects to identify a potential tourism flagship project in the Dublin Mountains and to look at the development of a first class visitor destination for South Dublin County.
The Dublin Mountains tourism project was based around this study and found that Massey’s Wood and Montpelier Hill, more popularly known by Dubliners as the location of the Hellfire Club, will be at the centre of the campaign.
The Dublin Mountains tourism project will involve a €19 million investment into tourism to emphasise the natural aspect of south Dublin, away from the packed city centre.
The proposal for what the Dublin Mountains tourism campaign would look like is being designed by both the South Dublin County Council and Coillte and is loosely based on Fáilte Ireland’s ‘A breath of fresh air’ campaign.
South Dublin County Council and Coillte will now move to the planning and detailed design phases of the project.
The proposal is to be discussed at tonight’s South Dublin County Council meeting.
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@Gav Brosnan: natural selection would be another. Just because society won’t make it legal doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. Ingest unknown substances!! More fool you.
@SFLounyTouny: Gav is advocating a solution to the unknown substances problem.
Would you actually not support safety initiatives for people to test pills but you’d rather say I told you so to the 0.0001% of people who ever have an issue with them?
@SFLounyTouny: yeah I agree, its not smart to take stuff you that you don’t know the contents and source of but people will still do it, a lot of people. Just because its stupid doesn’t mean it wont happen. The risks can always be lessened.
I have to say this is absolutely sound advice from the HSE and it’s good to see a sensible approach taken for once. Obviously the clear message is don’t take drugs but the advice given is 100% correct and relevant. It could save a life
@Coco86: Agreed, it’s good to see them coming around to the type of practical advice that club magazines provided in the 90s. It’s a lonnnnng time since I touched anything but good advice still applies.
2 weeks between sessions seems a little unrealistic for most heads though. And its better to test the batch before, or talk to your friends, as you’re unlikely to show discipline at the start of a session when you’re hyped up. Most people wouldn’t knowingly bring speckled pills to a festival as a sizeable number of folks don’t like tripping or are not cut out for it in large crowds of people they don’t know.
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin: The thoughts of e’s make me gag now man absolutely putrid rotten yokes! But back in the day I did my fair share and looking back now I’m lucky to have made it through those mad teenage early 20′s years! But we all know the risks albeit understand them that bit better as you get older. Hopefully everyone enjoys this year’s festivals and gets home safe,
Let’s hope the yes side come out in as much force on this issue, “women take abortion pills let’s make it safe for them” people take recreational drugs let’s make it safe for them. Legalise and regulate from manufacture to consumer
@Colm Kiernan: we need the Citizens Assembly to get involved here. Where’s Noone when we need her? Probably still hungover from the rave at the castle. #Trustdrugdealers
@Coco86: They’re not enforced. People used to drink and drive regularly until it was treated seriously and now a lot less people do it as there is more chance of being caught. If the same approach was taken to drugs it would have the same results
@Steve1234: Evidence from every country that has tried this shows it doesn’t work. All you end up with is prisons filled with decent people for minor drug offences.
@Steve1234: Of course they are enforced, have you ever witnessed anybody taking lines off the bar having a pint? No, because it’s illegal people will use the toilets instead! If anything I would say they are enforced too much and you must admit the so called war on drugs is being catastrophically lost. I agree with you on your drink driving comparison but this is not the right approach here IMO. Why criminalise the person with 20 euro worth of MDMA in their pocket when the real problem is at the top of the chain making millions? There will always be a demand for drugs so provide safe substances and make those on top irrelevant
Traditional party drugs like MDMA are quite safe substances, certainly no more dangerous than alcohol and likely safer. Where the danger arises is with adulterated substances, toxic derivatives or substances passed off as something they’re not. This is a result of prohibition and the black market drug trade. If alcohol were illegal, you would see deaths due to methanol poisoning from home brews as is common now in many Islamic countries where alcohol is prohibited. The substances we know to be relatively safe from clinical studies (MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, cannabis etc.) should be regulated and allowed to be openly sold as alcohol is. Dangerous derivatives and the like should still be banned.
@Dj: Question is does your dealer know their dealer and so on. The MDMA or pills the user consumes has passed through so many hands! The best thing is to listen to the advice given above and enjoy yourself, and the buzz!
@Coco86: Well, if you’ve been buying off a dealer for a period of time and it’s good stuff then I don’t see the need to buy some crap off some shifty looking bloke in the public toilets. Just come prepared is all.
@Dj: That’s true I’d sooner go without than risk some filthy crap from a randomer, you seem to think likewise :)
Unfortunately though I would think a lot of people particularly kids wouldn’t see it that way.
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