The crumbling, grey eyesore that is Carlisle Pier in Dún Laoghaire harbour is known to literally millions as the place where they embarked on the old Mail Boat for Holyhead. Emigration started here. Farewells were said here, and sad glances cast back as the ferry pulled away from land. And for the generations who, in the name of exercise, have marched briskly down the West Pier into a biting wind or ambled gently past the bandstand on a balmy day, it has been there - a constant, gloomy reminder of the nation's sorriest export trade.
Hopefully, not for much longer. The exhibition of alternative designs for a new pier, which closed yesterday after attracting about 8,000 visitors, held out the prospect of a dramatic future for the site with the potential to give a whole new lease of life to both harbour and town. The designs, some of which are genuinely breathtaking, indeed inspiring, are the shortlisted entries to a competition which will be judged in April by the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company on the basis of submissions from a committee of expert external assessors and an analysis of the thousands of response cards filled in by people visiting the exhibition.
Following negotiations between the company and the winning developer, the latter will need clearance from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council's planning committee which has already approved in principle the construction of "an exceptional landmark building of international architectural quality that regenerates and enlivens the waterfront....". It also requires that the project should bring significant cultural, social, recreational and economic benefits.
Each of the four designs incorporates apartments (300 in one case), shops, offices, a substantial museum/cultural centre - whose long-term financial viability must be part of the winning development plan - and some public spaces. Three include major hotels. And, although the publicly owned Harbour Company expects a return from the leasing of the site, it is being emphasised that a decision will not be taken purely on the basis of maximising that return, and that the consultation exercise, the first of its kind for a major architectural project, will play an important part in the process.
That is as it should be. Local people, genuinely concerned about the fate of the seashore - not least after the deeply unpopular attempts to develop the local baths site - are entitled to a sense of ownership of the harbour. A democratic input is also important given the national significance of both the site and the ambition of the development. It is a very welcome precedent.