Councillors to consider withholding Dún Laoghaire urban beach funding

Councillors are to consider refusing to pay €150,000 in fees toward a jointly funded plan for an urban beach in Dún Laoghaire pending approval by An Bord Pleanála.

At a special meeting to be held today, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown councillors will debate a motion to stop the council giving the funds to Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company for the Badeschiff Project.

The motion was tabled by Cllr Melisa Halpin (PBP) and seconded by Cllr Hugh Lewis (PBP), Cllr Karl Gill (PBP) and Cllr Victor Boyhan (Ind).

The issue had been carried over for debate with other business from the council’s regular monthly meeting last week, which ran out of time.

The project, costing €2.5 million, at the East Pier includes an artificial beach and cafe. A floating swimming pool with heated, treated seawater on a converted river barge beside a berth within the harbour is also planned.

It is to be jointly funded by the council and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company and was approved at the end of November by the council’s planning department. It has since been appealed to An Bord Pleanála by community group Save Our Seafront and by a local resident.