The Pipes The Pipes Are Falling

at

27674

Yikes.

They are falling apart from within.

Louis Le Fronde writes:

Further to your delusional struggle to save the unattractive Poolbeg chimney stacks [Pigeon House Rd, Ringsend, Dublin 4]. Nature is having her say. Here are some exclusive photos from a friend showing the state of the stacks on the inside and how they are falling apart from within. Ultimately they’re going to have to be demolished….

Who can save Poolbeg now?

Anyone?

Update:

flutes

Ah here.

The flutes?

Thanks Louis

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101 thoughts on “The Pipes The Pipes Are Falling

  1. Medium Sized C

    “Ultimately they’re going to have to be demolished….”

    That is not at all true.
    You’d swear they are the only chimneys in the city anyone ever thought of architecturally conserving.

    1. Sheik Yahbouti

      Louis’ obsession has become more than tiresome. Butt out – alleged French Canadian (yeah right).

  2. postmanpat

    yeah right. by “falling apart” you mean someone recently knocked loose 20 non-load baring bricks from the entrance way which you can clearly see missing from the right side in the second photo, (probably used the plank that you can see on the floor in the last photo) Threw them around the floor and says the whole thing has to be demolished.

    1. louisefronde

      Postmanpat, I love the ‘Spin’ you’re putting on it. Some people might believe that concocted fairytale, but the good news is I can recommend a good agent if you want to try your hand at fiction….

  3. Rob_G

    Jaaysus, but they look shabby up close.

    An absolute eyesore which at least before served some purpose; there is no point now spending tens of thousands of euros per year to maintain them – knock ’em down.

    (kudos on the headline, btw).

    1. Fact Checker

      More of the NEW=BAD and OLD=GOOD thinking that dominates the planning decision-making process in Ireland.

      It took a decade and a half and much gnashing of teeth to build the much lower profile incinerator a few hundred meters away.

      If these things get further preserved it will cost a lot of money spread thinly over the electricity bills of everyone in the country btw…..

      1. winner

        That’s infinitesimal in the context of preserving a key part of our shared architectural heritage

        But yeah knock them down

          1. winner

            How much is truly objective in life fact checker?
            Of course preserving the built environment is entirely subjective and subject to the whims of a few self appointed experts. Isn’t the banking industry almost identical?

        1. Pat Harding

          You obviously weren’t around in the 60’s when the first chimney went up or the 1970’s when the second one was constructed. I’m old enough to remember what the bay was like before them, and believe you me, it was a lot better.

          1. winner

            That’s ok Pat.

            I suppose we need to balance the views of people like you with the more sentimental type.
            I’m not a Dublin native but having seen so many failed attempts at building public monuments there it seems like shooting fish in a barrel to preserve a monument that many generations identify with and fondly consider.

        2. Rob_G

          I think that there is a distinction between knocking down Georgian buildings willy-nilly, and knocking down two clapped-out industrial chimneys that blight the view across Dublin bay, and would cost loads of money to keep up.

          Not everything old is necessarily worth preserving.

          1. winner

            That’s true.No one would argue if
            You wanted to cut off
            Michael Boo Man’s life support

            Until that happy day and the advent of legal euthanasia I believe there is an emotional attachment many have to the stacks. You or I may not share it but I personally would be more inclined to rail against blighted human rather than pigeon or seagull accommodation

  4. theo kretschmar schuldorff

    Why not give them a lick of paint while they wait forever to make any kind of decision?

  5. Daddy

    Louis Le Fronde, the high brow cultural snob who enjoys picking at the scabs of sentimental Ireland.

    1. Louis Lefronde

      @Daddy, Oh yes I am everything you say, a ‘High Brow Cultural Snob’ but at least it’s better than being a low-brow uneducated ‘schleb’ like you.

      1. Daddy

        Well you’re talking to a fourth level educated chap here Louis so possibly even more educated than yourself with your yiddish insults. I can never understand Irish people who use Yiddish soundbites. I suppose you’re too good for your own kind.

        How was your Foie Gras over the Christmas period.

        1. Louis Lefronde

          Irish? Last time I checked my passport it was Canadian… lol. Keep trying Daddy, you’ll get there, eventually.

          1. Daddy

            Oh I see. Canadian. Still in that case, why the Yiddish? So are you one of those more French than the French themselves Canadians?

        2. Starina

          not all Irish are goy, dahhhling, you’re making me verklempt with all your kvetching about yiddish. yeesh.

      2. winner

        That was a witty rejoinder I must admit.

        You are somewhat insufferable though Lolly

        And also foreign which immediately disqualifies you from having an opinion about anything here unless it’s to practise your ” aren’t they so cute little peasants there drinking pints of Guinness and playing fiddles” condescension techniques.

          1. Anne

            “At which point, you have to consider that perception concerning Irish people and Intelligence..”

            Just shut up before you make yourself look more stupid Louis.

            Cmere, do you think the management at the ESB will be impressed with your friend passing on photographs of a secure location and you plastering them abouts on the internets?

            “Here are some exclusive photos from an engineer friend in the ESB showing the state of the stacks on the inside and how they are falling apart from within.”

            Exclusive he says..did you check with the ESB if it was ok to release these?

            No of course you didn’t.

  6. Pat Harding

    Speaking as a structural engineer, this doesn’t surprise me. The chimneys were not designed to last and what’s more from a construction perspective they were designed and built in the 60’s and 70’s with materials that would not be used today. Inevitably, they will have to come down, the sooner the better.

    Regretfully, there are these mad untermuchkins who have a sad attachment to them, not realising that something awesome could be constructed in their place.

    1. Tony Willis

      Of course, none of the ‘Save Poolbeg Brigade’ ever acknowledge the major asbestos problem associated with the stacks. They’ll be demolished incrementally within the next two years on the grounds of public health and safety.

      1. Kieran NYC

        The Spire was supposed to have been 50% bigger before the nimbys protested.

        Would have been fantastic.

  7. Daddy

    It’s such an obvious PR hack attempt at making people think the chimneys are beyond saving and keeping them intact is… blah blah blah, tax payers money.

    They are an important landmark, visual reference point and as integral to the urban geography as many of our finer buildings.

    1. Fact Checker

      It’s not taxpayer’s money, it’s worse.

      It would be paid for by a regulated utility which would pass on the costs to the electricity users of Ireland.

      The ESB’s revenues are set (legitimately, but opaquely) by a regulatory process which is largely behind closed doors.

      At least public spending gets debated and voted on in the Oireachtas every year.

      1. winner

        That’s true however if we were to pick at
        The
        Scabs or overspending in the energy industry
        I
        Sense we would find far
        More festering sores

    2. Pat Harding

      Whatever you say Daddy, it’s all part of an evil plan concocted by the World Government and little green men to remove from your grasp a couple of industrial chimneys to make your life less meaningful…..

    3. jackson

      >They are an important landmark, visual reference point and as integral to the urban geography as many of our finer buildings.

      ALl those points are incorrect, when they finally go, people will see that the bay looks far better, hopefully replaced with some taller buildings eventually. They look dirty and industrial and very shit I’m afraid

  8. Eoin McSweeney

    Ah, that would be the Poolbeg Chimneys, a paddy whack monument to Irish ignorance. In the Rhur, they’d die laughing at the Fr Ted attempt to save a pair of dilapidated flutes long past their functional use.

    For god sake get over yourselves and get rid of them.

    ….meanwhile in Dubai, they know how to build inspiring buildings on landmark locations.

    https://www.jumeirah.com/en/hotels-resorts/dubai/burj-al-arab/

    1. Daddy

      “meanwhile in Dubai”

      They also know how to stone women to death, execute their opposition and use slave labour from Asia to build those tacky towers of tasteless crassness.

      Dubai is where suburban westerners go to play rich man while ignoring the wholesale abuse of human rights there.

      1. bertie blenkinsop

        Dubai is where suburban westerners go to play rich man while ignoring the wholesale abuse of human rights there….

        See also: Doheny & Nesbitt’s.

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      If you find Dubai architecture “inspiring”, there is no hope of you ever having taste. Dubai is a monument to crass.

  9. Clampers Outside!

    Spend money on homeless services or save these things…
    IMHO, I say, lose the stacks.

    On other wastes of money, how much does the self-cleaning spire cost to clean annually again?

    1. Pat Harding

      There’s nothing wrong with spending money on real landmarks, as opposed to the flutes. Construction creates jobs which has a multiplier effect in the economy. A real landmark would serve as a tourist attraction. Let’s be frank, no one in their right mind would see the Poolbeg flutes as a go-to place.

      Concerning ‘Services’… this is the atypical response whenever something innovative is suggested in Ireland. It’s the stock argument used the world over by the lefties. ‘We should spend the money on services…..blah blah blah’

      1. Daddy

        ‘We should spend the money on services…..blah blah blah’

        Wow. Well considering developers have always dodged their commitments under development plans by buying their way out of social housing allocations and not building parks and amenities, there is only local governments left to pay for those vital services. And that means the tax must be used to fund them.

        It’s all very fine if you’re wealthy enough to ‘go private’ instead of using public services like most Europeans do but don’t force that ideology on the rest of the population who pay tax for services unlike white collar tax dodging criminals.

    2. Daddy

      “Spend money on homeless services or save these things…”

      Yeah like that’s the choice.

      You’re simple.

  10. 15p

    this is a personal mission for Louis, as he stands to gain from their demise. Don’t listen to his self-serving propaganda. the chimneys are part of the Dublin skyline, don’t knock-em down for one snobs personal gain.

  11. Fully Keen

    They are ugly. And will always be ugly. No matter how many Dublin eeeejits romanticize them. They are and will always be ugly.

    Like yer ma.

  12. Daddy

    To be honest, I don’t really have a particular grá (that’s love Louis) for the stacks but I can’t stand those who use false arguments in order to further an undeclared agenda. It’s inherently dishonest and disrespectful. People like that are selfish from cradle to grave. But they do die lonely so I suppose that’s something.

    1. JIMMYJAMES

      relaxo rancho there da, yer not in custody… but might give child services a bell.. send someone over, see if yer alright…

    1. Anne

      The undeclared agenda is that Louis got ‘exclusive’ photos from a secure location from someone working in the ESB who is currently thinking f*** me, why did I send that f***ing dope the photos..f*** f*** f*** and like a lot of french tw*ts the arrogance took over and he just had to share the exclusive photos.

  13. guy bague

    That’s the best imagery ESB Enginneering can come up with?

    Says it all.

    Demolish those towers and the entire ESB with it.

  14. louisefronde

    Anne, I’m loving the ‘undeclared agenda’ nonsense you’re going on with…. Seriously, can you not come up with something better?

    Maybe it’s a simple observation that the Chimneys have gone beyond their ‘sell-by date’, they are dilapidated and structurally unsound. They occupy the entrance to the port and are ugly beyond belief. Dublin Bay would look so much better without them, and what’s more they occupy a place where a real landmark could be placed instead. Therein lies your ‘agenda’

    A simple question Anne, is this the best Ireland can do? Seriously?

    C’mon Dublin deserves better?

  15. mildred st. meadowlark

    You know Louis, darling, perhaps if you weren’t such a dick about it, people might be willing to admit that you have a point.

    But, by all means, continue on with the thing you have going on and pissing off the general consensus.

    I reckon Bodger loves you.

    1. winner

      It’s like shooting fish in a barrel in here isn’t it mill dread?

      But he does it with a certain elan and an ‘ow you say ‘je ne sais quoi”

  16. Andy

    I like them. The add something to Dublin’s appallingly dull city sky-line.

    Keep/maintain them until the morons in DCC force developers to build some 40+ story buildings in the docks. You know, make something of the skyline and possibly give people* places to live!

    *good people, not scroungers.

    1. Kieran NYC

      “until the morons in DCC force developers to build some 40+ story buildings in the docks. You know, make something of the skyline and possibly give people* places to live!”

      Ha. As if the DCC will force that. They all seem to be stuck in a generation that believes Dublin is still a town and that anything over 6 stories will plunge it into darkness and give everyone rickets.

  17. Emah

    The chimneys were capped last year, it’s not unlikely the debris there may have resulted from remediation works at the top to facilitate the capping. If they took the bother to cap them then I wouldn’t think they plan to knock them anytime soon.

    1. Louis Lefronde

      Ah Emah,

      Stop making excuses…. they’re falling down for god’s sake. Cheaply built with bad materials in the 1960’s and 70’s. They’ve served their purpose in a place they should never have been built. Get rid of them, and the plonkers who in Dublin city council who voted to list them….?

      It’s time to progress and move forward

  18. Zena

    Life in Canada must be a real blast, with you on BS so much.

    Louis, are you an only child? You remind me so much of a brat cousin I grew up with – he was a complete pr*ck too.

  19. Biggins

    Incredible how precious you lot are about a couple of chimneys, and attacking a poster because he doesn’t like them.

    weird. really weird.

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