From the Berty Bowl to Wicklow International Airport – there has been no shortage of ambitious infrastructure projects in Ireland through the years.

This week, news broke that a Middle Eastern consortium was looking to build an international airport at Arklow on an 800-acre site, a project they believe would bring 18,000 jobs to the area.

The story inspired Newstalk’s Simon Tierney to take a trip down memory lane and explore some large-scale ‘pie in the sky’ capital projects that could have been - but never took off.

On The Hard Shoulder today, he said a similar project to the one proposed at Arklow this week almost took off back in 2010.

“A consortium got together to build what they initially described as Wicklow International Airport but later changed it to East Leinster International Airport,” said Simon.

“It was going to be somewhere near Arklow but closer to Gorey – on the Wicklow/Wexford border – and it was going to cost between €100-150 million.

“You’d hardly get a quarter of a runway for that nowadays.

“The last documentary evidence we have of this project was in 2015 but really it seemed to be a victim of the downturn.”

Tipperary casino

Simon said a Tipperary casino proposed by businessman Richard Quirke and backed by TD Michael Lowry was one of the most ambitious plans he’s ever seen.

“It was going to be a super casino in Twomileborris and got planning permission not once, but twice from Tipperary County Council,” he said.

“It was going to have a 15,000-seater indoor arena for entertainment, for shows - think Vegas here.

“It was going to have a full-size replica of the White House, it was going to have a 550-bed hotel, making it the biggest in the country.

“It was going to have an all-weather golf course, a 6,000-space car park, a helicopter pad, and a race track for the dogs.”

Croke Park in Co Dublin. Image: Stephen Power / Alamy Stock Photo

Simon said another famous infrastructure project that never got off the ground was the Berty Bowl – officially called Stadium Ireland.

“To put some context on this; you need to remember that in the early to mid-90s, Croke Park and Lansdowne Road were in a state of dilapidation,” he said.

“Fianna Fail was working off the idea that if those stadiums are not in a good state, then let’s build one that is.

“Berty Ahern said this would initially cost £280m and it was also going to include other sports facilities like a 50m swimming pool and stuff like that.”

Simon said the project came to a halt due to political pressure.

“Fianna Fáil was dependant on the Progressive Democrats at the time and they commissioned an independent review to see how much this would cost,” he said.

“The independent review said it would cost £1bn so once that figure came out it became very difficult."

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Main image: Wembley Stadium under construction in 2006. Image: Andrew Holt / Alamy Stock Photo