The Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures could find itself squeezed out of the seafront in future, if the council's plan to redevelop the derelict sea baths goes ahead.
The festival, now in its fifth year, expects to attract upwards of 160,000 visitors to Dún Laoghaire this weekend. Many of the events are open-air, with the festival making full use of the seafront.
A stretch of the coast road passing the baths, from the East Pier to the end of Scotsman's Bay, will be closed to traffic throughout the weekend and public open space on that stretch will be utilised fully.
Information booths and other facilities will be positioned at Queen's Road and Newtownsmith and there will be a food market and picnic area next to the baths. Further along on the green at Newtownsmith, there will be a stage featuring seven headline acts during the weekend.
The Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council plan for the baths site on Queen's Road includes 180 private apartments in an eight-storey block, with a 25-metre public indoor swimming pool and Waterworld, seaweed baths and a leisure complex. Retail units and restaurants are also proposed, and five acres of the seashore are to be infilled to facilitate the project.
Council architects have included public gardens and an amphitheatre for open-air events in the ambitious development, but there are fears that while the apartments may be built quickly, the public amenity element of the plan could take a lot longer or may not be included at all. At the very least, a large area along the seafront will be out of bounds during the lengthy construction time.
The plan returns to the council for a vote on its adoption in October. A decision was adjourned after the last debate, at the end of which the county manager offered to reduce the residential component of the scheme by relocating the 36 social and affordable units, compulsory under Department of Environment legislation, to other sites .
Green Party Cllr Kealin Ireland said the baths development, if it proceeds, could have a disastrous effect on the festival in the short term.
"A building of this magnitude is going to take a long number of years to complete," she said. "And I am very cynical about the provision of public open space. We were supposed to get an ice-rink with the Pavilion development [apartments and shops opposite the Dart station], but there is no public space with that."
Future festivals may also be affected by the resignation of county manager Derek Brady. Mr Brady established and championed the festival during his tenure.
After a seven-year term he had the option of reapplying for the position, but told councillors the prospect of working 14 years in the same job did not appeal to him.
A council spokeswoman said: "There is no big development planned for Newtownsmith.
"The proposed development will not encroach in any way on the site used for the festival," she said. "It is envisaged that the new performance arena will provide additional opportunities for festival performances."
Christy Moore, Ronnie Drew and Mike Hanrahan will perform at a rally organised by the Save Our Seafront movement on Sunday, September 18th, after a march starting from the People's Park at 1.30pm.
