Dublin City Council has denied that a new outdoor lido or pool planned for George’s Dock is just the original white-water rafting facility repackaged.
Plans for a white-water rafting centre were shelved late last year amid a public outcry about the €25 million price tag and questions as to whether most Dubliners would ever use it.
The council has since proposed a centre with a 50m public lido and a swift water training facility for the emergency services. There will also be space for an ice rink in the winter.
Cllr Nial Ring says the new proposal is mostly the old plan repackaged:
“I see it’s called H2O,” he mused.
“It should be called H2O II because it is a reiteration of the previous plan to a certain extent.
“We were shown four options and then there’s a preferred option and I’d like to know whose preferred option?
“Certainly not the public, certainly not the councillors; I don’t know who has come up with this as the preferred option.”
Plans for a new public Lido in Dublin City Centre. Image: Dublin city CouncilIt’s a sentiment that his council colleague, Joe Costello, agrees with:
“There was no community consultation, in fact there was no consultation at all in relation to councillors,” he complained.
“And it’s not funded at the present time and remember the last proposal was jettisoned because funding couldn’t be obtained for 25 million.
“So this is going to cost at least the same amount.”
Remember Dublin’s axed #whitewater rafting plan? The new proposal for George’s Dock is a #lido and training course for the emergency services pic.twitter.com/ewgTuDkiNI
— Emma Tyrrell (Ní Riain) (@EmmaNiRiain) July 13, 2022
However, council official Derek Kelly said the new swift water facility would be nothing like a white-water rafting facility:
“The gradient in the swift water is nothing in the realms of what you can do white-water on,” he explained.
“It’d be like a lazy river in a waterpark; the drops aren’t there. It’s too short, you couldn’t use it for any level of competition; a canoe would hit the walls.”
Main image: Female swimmer diving underwater in a swimming pool. Picture by: Alamy.com
