Yesterday…

Dublin Chamber of Commerce announced on Twitter:

White water rafting, anyone? New images have been released to show what the new white water rafting facility, that Dublin City Council is proposing to build in the IFSC, will look like. The project will reportedly cost €22m and take around 18 months to build.

How did that go?

Oh.

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

In the Dublin Inquirer, Lois Kapila reports:

With Dublin City Council short of money, councillors on the finance committee have agreed to consider a different way to raise cash: civic crowdfunding.

Council to Consider Crowdfunding for City Projects (Dublin Inquirer)

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31 thoughts on “Bleedin Vapid

  1. Rob_G

    “With Dublin City Council short of money, councillors on the finance committee have agreed to consider a different way to raise cash: civic crowdfunding.”

    – if only they had an established mechanism for raising cash that they hadn’t voted to reduce on three separate occasions…

    1. Otis Blue

      It’s worth remembering that only 5 short years ago Phil Hogan introduced what we were promised was the most comprehensive reform of Local Government in 100 years. That it has been a woeful failure will come as a surprise to no one.

  2. some old queen

    Given the deliberate departmental obstructions DCC face every time they try to build social housing- I suppose putting the site to some use is better than none?

  3. Stephen

    I don’t get the whole we need this so can’t spend money on anything else.
    Yes we need social housing but that doesn’t mean we don’t invest in other projects at the same time.
    I would question the quickly rising price but it look like a great facility to me.

    1. Bort

      Exactly, you don’t just stop developing a city because of other issues. There’s people who live in this city, tax payers who also deserve a good city. It will an amazing amenity. FFS remeber the uproar when the closed the last ice rink! And I can’t wait for the other rapids, Dun Laoighre baths to be opened

      1. Col

        Is there demand for this? There is some similar stuff in the Grand Canal Basin – is this overwhelmed by demand?

        1. freddy8toes

          It’s pretty busy most lunchtimes anyway…

          I imagine the insurance for this won’t be provided and it’ll never happen though. From the news there aren’t many insurers willing to take on outdoor/activity customers here.

  4. newsjustin

    The big question here is – why?

    Also. 100% guarantee it will not look like that. This being Ireland, there will be extensive railings all around every inch of this.

  5. Bort

    Exactly, you don’t just stop developing a city because of other issues. There’s people who live in this city, tax payers who also deserve a good city. It will an amazing amenity. FFS remeber the uproar when the closed the last ice rink! And I can’t wait for the other rapids, Dun Laoighre baths to be opened

  6. Murtles

    We can’t have anything nice in this country because of the moaners and begrudgers. Why does every penny (or none of it at the moment cause of the gravy train riding politicians) have to go to the homeless?
    Regardless even if it was built, on day one some skanger would “fall in” and sue their insurance. The great unwashed win again.

  7. Janet, I ate my avatar

    I just don’t think we have the weather for it,
    I also agree with the likely hood of horrible railings,
    and while not a begrudger the state of so many other urgent issues makes this have a bang of let them eat cake about it

    1. Rob_G

      I would have thought that white water rafting would be one of the less weather-reliant outdoor activities – a bit of rain is hardly going to make a difference if you are already soaked by the spray.

        1. Janet, I ate my avatar

          sounds like hell to me twice as wet, freezing hands, no thanks
          more a pedallo down a beautiful sunny gorge type of girl, preferably with chilled wine

    2. V

      We go out in all sorts of weather Janie, usually

      Heavy Mist/ Fog is one no no for every open sea/ inshore paddler
      Heavy squalls is another, but some like meself and Mrs K would be more inclined to dip when it is a bit more lumpy
      but under conditions, like having someone on shore on look out, and a rib on standby
      And neither of us would be nervous swimmers anyway, but it would be strictly inshore

      Also, kit is far more advanced now, most of us would have kit for all sorts of weather anyway,
      Longies, Shorties, Skins, Kags, gloves and varying classes of buoyancy aids, even helmets; conditions decide tbh

      If I’m just doing a few laps of the beach at HT, a short sleeve rasher is the height of it and gloves, I always use gloves

      This facility here, I would be using skins, gloves and probably a kag depending on time of year, and booties. However I suspect they will also insist on buoyancy aids and helmets.
      And I doubt they will permit rolling and reverse gates.

  8. max

    Closed within 1 year of opening due to rising insurance costs.

    If you charge 20 euro per hour, and you can have probably no more than 6 people at a time going around the course at a time. it would take over 20 years to make the money back assuming that there were no upkeep costs.

    would be better if they stuck a glass roof over it and turned it into a swimming pool.

    alternatively fill it in and sell the site for another office block, and use the cash to build more houses.

        1. Brother Barnabas

          would be least of worries

          scientifically proven that the average irish person pees within 45 seconds of entering a swimming pool

  9. V

    I have a gut feeling this isn’t going to crystallise into anything
    And it’s just a glossy announcement in the wake of DCC voting to up rates.

    Ok I know they pushed it out last August and the 12 mill quoted made it very attractive; And I would have been one of those whose eye was caught by it.

    But that was motivated by a personal bias because I’d be one of the ‘rafters’ looking forward to it.

    But DCC can’t even manage public swimming pools.

    They are promising the City this facility that – going by the images published anyway, looks to me like it will be managed in a single file circuit along with strictly controlled weirs that’ll lead to crowding as one, two, three etc person canoes, kayaks, canadians of various capacities, and paddle boarders assemble to wait their turn.
    And if anyone has ever seen the start of the Liffey Decent they’ll know what I’m getting at.

    It’s an ambulance chasers wet dream while Insurance underwriters are sweating out well paid overtime.

    And it may well be restricted to Clubs and private groups, like their swimming pools.

    My point is that it’s a great idea but is totally unrealistic as an ongoing facility – my own personal fear is that it’ll end up like the Lee Bats (sic)
    (Filled in with concrete and a hotel built over the site.)

    I would be one of those vocally and actively critical of DCCs failure to supply Social Housing, and despite it being in my favour – their decision to reduce LPT was reckless; at best. Doing my best to be polite lads.

    While this facility does demonstrate a willingness to invest in the City, it is imo anyway, just for show.

    I suspect it will – if it does come to anything, be another piece of publicly funded infrastructure that will be handed over to a local business man to operate.

    And despite the issues – particularly regarding restricted use, I introduced above, it is for that reason only – I am now totally against it.

  10. max

    Also has anyone considered the noise pollution from this. White water rapids are generally very noisy + the machinery for pumping the water.

  11. Liam Deliverance

    Something about the scale of the images doesn’t look right to me, I don’t think the space is as big as it is portrayed

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