It is big, it is bold, it has a multimillion-pound budget and it has been billed by its backers as Ireland's potential version of Puerto Banus in southern Spain. When it opens next year, it will be the largest coastal construction of its type on this island. However, there are murmurs of discontent about the State's £18 million "public" marina at Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, which is due to be ready for next summer's sailing season.
It shouldn't be so, given the extent of consultation during the protracted planning process of the last few years, the growth in coastal leisure, the demand from existing sailing clubs and the fact that a marina has been on the agenda of the Irish Sea ferryport for a decade and more. Come an election next year, however, and without a resolution to the latest dispute, the marina could well be an issue in a sensitive political constituency.
Earlier this month, bookings for berths were advertised. The interest is "substantial", according to yacht chandler Mr Bernard Gallagher, of BJ Marine in Dublin, who believes the marina will open up south Dublin Bay to those who have not been part of the "yachting set".
Mr Gallagher says he has already referred some 40 clients to the marina company, and expects them to keep coming. "People just don't want to keep their investment on the end of a string any more," he says, referring to the current system of swinging moorings. "I have had new customers who have returned after three months to sell on their boats, for that very reason. We're delighted that this is going to change."
However, the Dun Laoghaire Labour TD and former junior marine minister, Mr Eamon Gilmore, is not so impressed. "The whole concept has been lost. The plan was to open up the harbour and make sailing accessible to people on a moderate income. [But] it appears that this is going to be for those for whom yachting is a corporate perk after all," he says.
Mr Gilmore was a minister during some of the most crucial planning stages, and has followed the project closely. Central to his concern is the future of the Coal Harbour, the hub of Dun Laoghaire's commercial activities when coal was Kingstown's main import in the 19th century.
Ironically, the Coal Harbour was at the heart of the first political row about a possible marina in the 1980s, when several private investors won support from the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey.
The project was abandoned on that occasion, amid accusations that it constituted "privatisation" of a State asset. The 680-berth marina is in the main harbour, sheltered by two breakwaters, the construction of which represents the bulk of the project's cost. These breakwaters are currently taking shape at a feverish pace. Next month, responsibility for the Coal Harbour's public boatyard is to be transferred by Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company to Marina Marketing and Management Ltd (MMM), the private consortium which won the contract to run the facility. The boatyard is currently used by small boat-owners, most of whom live in the area. Facilities are limited, security is not ideal, but it does offer access to a slipway that is not tied to a fee-charging waterfront club.
The boat-owners pay for use of the yard. To keep a trailer during the summer costs about £45, and winter storage for a 30-foot boat is about £200. On top of this, the price for mooring is about £200, depending on boat length, a figure which includes maintenance. There are additional costs for launching by crane when the season starts.
Boat-owners have expressed fears that the transfer to private interests will make the yard "more commercial" and that it will result in a hike in prices. And they fear for the long-term future of the Coal Harbour, given that the marina needs an area for onshore facilities to make it pay.
The Coal Harbour Users' Group (CHUG) also believes the marina will have an impact on local rowing club activity and trainee dinghy sailors. Father Patrick J. Mangan, Dun Laoghaire parish priest, who has written to this newspaper on the subject, has said he hopes that the Coal Quay and boatyard will remain "fully open" to the youth of the community.
Mr Noel Brien, chairman of CHUG, a boat-owner for 35 years and a public service worker, says the transfer of the boatyard will destroy the existing community balance in the harbour. "The harbour company is not interested in people like me," he says. "We aren't trying to inhibit the marina, but we just want to see some fairness."
Chug says it received little satisfaction from a meeting with the harbour company's chief executive, Mr Michael Hanahoe, and its request to address the full harbour board was turned down. "We were told that the market price would determine the rates to be charged from next year," said Mr Tim Magennis, spokesman for CHUG. Mr Hanahoe told The Irish Times that the company had no intention "now or in the foreseeable future" of excluding the public from either the Coal Harbour or the boatyard. The transfer was taking place to ensure its future viability as a "well-staffed and well-equipped boat storage facility". There were no plans to increase the price of boat storage there this winter, he said, and the harbour company would still be responsible for moorings.
"We've had discussions with CHUG over the last two years and we have pointed out repeatedly that it will remain a public facility," he says. "I can understand their concerns about access and cost, and have invited representatives to meet with us and with MMM. However, they have refused. We can't address these issues if they aren't prepared to accept that invitation."
Chug says it cannot talk to MMM, given that its dispute is with the harbour company. MMM has been charged with managing the marina for a 30-year period, and has to raise over £5 million for the £18 million project, with the State paying around £12 million. Some £850,000 has been grant-aided by the EU.
MMM comprises Mr Tom Power, who runs Rapport Marketing Communications, Mr Michael O'Leary, an international yachtsman and chair of Impress Digital Communications, and Mr John Bourke, also an international sailor and chairman of Irish Life and Permanent.
On the Coal Harbour, Mr Power says: "We are reasonable people, and we have no intention of cutting off access to the water. We are sailors, and we are going to provide a secure area with proper boat launching which will be in everyone's best interests."
MMM is confident that there is a healthy interest in the project. The final price for berths has been confirmed at £245 per metre, compared to a quoted figure of £225 last year, and "no preferential treatment" will be given, Mr Power says. This means that the owner of an average 30-foot boat will pay over £1,000 more for the marina than for a swinging mooring - but with sailing opportunities multiplied three-fold due to accessibility. Already, the Royal Irish Yacht Club has benefitted from the breakwater shelter, as it has been able to erect pontoons outside its premises.
The cost is a concern to Mr Gilmore. "I've nothing in principle against private sector interests being involved, but the price for the user is rising by the day. We had originally conceived berths of around £1,200 to £1,500 a year, which would have been within some people's reach."
However, the Coal Harbour issue is fundamental, in his view. "It is the interface between what is a public facility and what will be a privately managed marina," he says. CHUG is due to hold a public meeting in Dun Laoghaire next month, to which all public representatives will be invited.
