Public-transport access, energy and water supplies need debate if the mooted 7 billion theme park for north Co Dublin is to fly, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
Any development that requires 2,000 acres of land would be unprecedented in an Irish context. And the pressure it would put on infrastructure - transport links, power supplies, water and sewerage facilities - is almost unquantifiable.
But the reported "plan" for a Disneyland-style theme park in north Co Dublin is not a plan at this stage. It is merely a concept in the minds of promoters who have yet to acquire rights to the land they say they need to advance it further.
All we know is that a man called Louis Maguire met the Fingal county manager, Mr Willie Soffe; the county council's economic development officer, Mr Michael Galvin; and senior planner, Mr Peter Gillette, to outline the concept on July 22nd.
As of yesterday we also know Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan has been approached as a potential backer, while Mr Maguire is also believed to have had meetings with local politicians.
Having failed to assemble a site near Baldonnel Aerodrome for the putative €7 billion development, Mr Maguire indicated that the promoters were now seeking to acquire land within striking distance of Dublin Airport for their theme park.
A sketch layout was produced, showing a large lake in the middle for water sports surrounded by Disneyland-type rides, a safari park with wild animals and other leisure facilities, as well as hotels, apartments and retail outlets.
The scale of the scheme is staggering. It would occupy a land area larger than the Phoenix Park, provide employment for 25,000 - equivalent to the Dublin Airport zone - and could attract seven million visitors a year.
That amounts to nearly half of Dublin Airport's annual throughput of 15 million passengers, seven times the number of visitors to the National Gallery and 14 times the figure for Dublin Zoo. In fact, it equates with total tourist numbers for 2002.
Good public-transport access would be essential to carry an estimated 20,000 visitors a day into and out of such a theme park. That's why Disneyland Paris is on a high-speed metro line, and why even Mosney holiday camp had its own railway station.
However, the target site in Fingal is located to the west of the M1 motorway, remote from the Dublin-Belfast railway line and incapable of being served by it - unless the line was diverted inland via the theme park, Swords and Dublin Airport.
Alternatively, the proposed airport metro could be extended northwards, with much of the additional cost being met by the promoters. Or they could seek out an alternative site for the project, along the Kildare, Maynooth or northern suburban lines.
The project would also require the construction of a new interchange on the recently completed M1 motorway. Access to the site from the rest of Ireland would add yet more traffic to the already overloaded M50.
Fingal is short of water and electricity, both of which would be consumed in great quantities by any theme park of the scale being mooted.
The ESB has plans to provide extra power lines to serve a major industrial development near Balbriggan.
A major sewage treatment plant would also be required. But before anything can happen, the promoters must acquire the 2,000 acres they say they need, or at least options on the land, before they could lodge a valid planning application.
So far, it would appear that none of the land is in their hands, despite reports of people being offered twice the market value for houses in the area. Most of it is zoned agricultural, and that can only be changed by the elected members of Fingal County Council.
The promoters will certainly miss the September 8th deadline for submissions on the new county development plan. They would also have to hire a whole range of consultants to design the project and prepare an environmental impact statement.
If it went ahead, Fingal would rake-in substantial rates revenue - though this prospect, in itself, would not be crucial in examining whether the proposal is inherently desirable. It may just be kite-flying at this stage, or even pie-in-the-sky.