PLANNING&DEVELOPMENT:Dublin Port is too important a piece of critical infrastructure to be viewed solely through property development binoculars.

THE ARTICLE in the Commercial Property supplement of March 12th by Mairead Furey of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald argued that the 650 acres of land at Dublin Port is "significantly undervalued in its current use" and called on the Government to "no longer ignore its potential".

The article advocated a relocation to Bremore in north Co Dublin as a solution.

To assess the value and worth of any piece of land, without truly factoring in its current use, will always produce a skewed conclusion. Looking at the lands at Dublin Port from a property development perspective, as the article does, may produce a conclusion that the lands could be suitable for a high-density, high-rise, mixed-use development.

However, if you assess the value of the lands at Dublin Port from the perspective of the actual activity currently undertaken there, you can see that the land use is serving a public need which is strategic, critical and of direct benefit to thousands of consumers and businesses each day.

The containers that arrive in Dublin Port contain consumer goods, including food, clothes, and white goods - all products that are bought on a daily basis by consumers.

The function of Dublin Port has always been to deliver and ship goods to and from the city and its region in the fastest and most economic way. Importers and logistics companies value Dublin Port's proximity to the large retail centres, from both a convenience and competitiveness perspective.

The port handles two-thirds of containerised trade to and from Ireland and 50 per cent of all Ireland's imports and exports. Critically, some 50 per cent of all the goods coming through Dublin Port are destined for areas within the M50 ring, while 75 per cent of goods are destined for a location within 80km of the port.

A port within the city is better (and more sustainably) located to serve its burgeoning daily needs for food and goods than one 35km away.

In addition to facilitating the trade of the city and its region, Dublin Port also plays an important role in bringing visitors to Ireland, and last year 1.3 million passengers arrived on ferries and there were visits by over 60 cruise liners.

Like all ports (and indeed other elements of critical infrastructure), recent economic growth requires greater capacity. The port's immediate need is for deepwater berthage to respond to these actual demands and its proposal for new berthing facilities has been recognised by An Bord Pleanála as an appropriate project to be implemented through the new Strategic Infrastructure Act.

Dublin Port is a critical piece of national strategic infrastructure - central to the efficient working of an economy that is so dependent on international trade. It is not a piece of real estate that can be viewed in isolation from its operational context.

While the study carried out by DTZ and others on Dublin Bay for Dublin City Council recommended that Dublin Port be relocated, it didn't identify an alternative site or assess the costs of moving there. In any event, Dublin Port Company has no plans for relocation and the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has stated publicly that his department has no plans to relocate the port either.

Dublin Port is not alone in this approach - contrary to the views of several commentators, only those ports which have themselves sought to relocate have actually moved from their city centre locations.

Throughout Europe, most city ports (Barcelona, Hamburg, Marseilles, and so on) remain where they have always historically been and are thriving. In any event, the economic costs of relocating Dublin Port - including extinguishment of tenancies, decontamination and disruption - would amount to an estimated €4.26 billion, apart from the serious consequences for the trade and general economic activity that would result from any such disruptive move.

The article suggests that Dublin Port should move to Bremore, north of Balbriggan, which the writer believes "is a deepwater port with room for expansion as it has an existing landbank of up to 1,000 acres".

However, there is no port at Bremore. There is a beach, some green fields and several archaeological sites. A proposal by Drogheda Port (who claim a landbank of 230 acres) to transfer its functions there in the future is under consideration. Even if that were to occur (and a long planning process is envisaged) the necessary 633 acres required by Dublin Port would simply not be available.

The future of Dublin city is set out for its citizens in a series of documents ranging from regional planning guidelines to the city development plan to the most recent draft consultation document Maximising the City's Potential. None of these envisage the development of Dublin Port for significant residential, office or retail development, and no public transport initiatives are proposed based on that concept.

Indeed, the development of the Dublin Port area along the lines suggested by the article would probably frustrate the regeneration of other areas of the city which have been specifically targeted for new residential populations, such as Phibsborough/Mountjoy, Grangegorman, Heuston or the Dublin docklands.

It is interesting to note that every suggestion so far for the relocation of Dublin Port has been based solely on its development potential, allied to the development potential of lands at Bremore - in other words, it is little more than a property play argument seeking to capitalise on the substantial national investment in the Port Tunnel.

Dublin Port is too important a piece of critical infrastructure to be viewed solely through property development binoculars!

Fergal MacCabe is a partner in MacCabe Durney, Consultant Town Planners which advises Dublin Port Company