dún laoghaire harbour company

Index

• - Victoria Monument Complete
• - Special Olympics comes to Dún Laoghaire Harbour
• - Civic Plaza, Dún Laoghaire Harbour
• - Details of dredging in the Harbour
• - Harbour Policeman Recieves Award From The Irish Water Safety Council
• - Poop Scoop for your four legged friends!
• - Irish Youth Sailing Club in 2002
• - Closure of East Pier Steps

Victoria Monument - Complete

(posted 09/05/2003)

Looking West in the mid afternoon sun.
This image is like a window in time.

Photographed by ©David Doyle - Glance Global 2003

Special Olympics comes to Dún Laoghaire Harbour

The Royal St. George Yacht Club will be the sailing venue for the 2003 World Summer Games when the regatta will take place within the Harbour walls between June 21st and 29th. The very popular Firefly racing dinghy has been selected as the competition boat for levels 1, 2 and 5. The boat performs well in all weather conditions. The Squib will be used for levels 2 and 4. At least eighty competitors are expected to take part.

Civic Plaza, Dún Laoghaire Harbour

The Ferry Terminal Plaza in Dún Laoghaire has been recognised as one of only twelve spaces in Ireland worthy of inclusion in "The Good Place Guide" to urban design in Britain and Ireland. The Guide describes the Plaza as having "almost a Barcelona feeling", a popular civic space which provides an attractive entry and departure point to and from Ireland and is much used by local people for musical events and similar gatherings.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Master, Captain James Carter, outlines details of dredging in the Harbour

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Master, Captain James Carter, outlines details of dredging in the Harbour Since it was built, it has always been necessary to carry out dredging in the Harbour and for many years the Office of Public Works had permanently based dredgers in Dún Laoghaire. The last two dredgers were scrapped in the mid-1970s and since then work has been carried out by various contract dredging companies. These old dredgers were capable, over time, of removing copious quantities although they were small and underpowered craft when compared to modern vessels. The OPW Annual Report for 1913-14 stated that, "upwards of 54,000 tons of material was dredged from the Harbour bed and deposited at sea".

The photograph below (courtesy of Mr. Noel Brien) shows the last two OPW vessels, Bucket Dredger "Sisyphus" and the Grab Dredger "Saxifrage", both built in 1908, alongside each other at Traders' Wharf. The triple expansion steam engine of the "Sisyphus" is now housed in the National Maritime Museum, Dún Laoghaire and other than a few artifacts in the Harbour Office, everything else went to the Hammond Lane foundry in Dublin for scrap.

This year, once again, the Harbour requires dredging and the main channel is to be taken to a depth of 6.1 metres (before the tide is added) early in the summer. The work will be done by a suction dredger and a plough tug and an estimated 175,000 tonnes to be removed at an estimated cost of €0.5 million, the work will take about three weeks to complete.

Rigorous vetting has to satisfactorily be completed by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources before official sanction is received for both the removal and dumping of the dredge soil. This includes a chemical analysis, material composition of the soil, and particulars of the dumping area - in accordance with modern environmental safeguards embodied in national legislation.

HARBOUR POLICEMAN RECEIVES AWARD FROM THE IRISH WATER SAFETY COUNCIL

On Thursday 6 February 2003 John O'Connor, a member of the Harbour Police, (pictured left) attended the Irish Water Safety Awards Ceremony at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. John was presented with an award under the "Rescue and Just in Time" category. This was in recognition of a brave rescue carried out by John in Dún Laoghaire Harbour on 28 October 2002.

John was on patrol at 0200 hours when he saw a man fall off the East Pier. He threw a lifebuoy, which was grabbed by the man, but then the man fell unconscious. John, who cannot swim, then went to his aid with only a rope around his waist and was lowered by two of his colleagues down the Harbour wall to rescue the drowning man. He then held the man above water for fifteen minutes until the emergency services arrived.

The award was presented by the Minister for Environment and Local Government,
Mr Martin Cullen, TD.

(left to right)
Frank Nolan, Chairman for Irish Water Safety,
Minister Martin Cullen, Minister for Environment and Local Government,
John O'Connor, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Police.

Poop Scoop for your four legged friends!

A gentle reminder that "Poop scoops" are available free of charge to all dog walkers from wall dispensers on the East and West Piers and on the Marina East Breakwater.

These ingeniously designed bags allow dog owners to quickly, efficiently and cleanly remove their dogs faeces ready for disposal in

Kyron O'Gorman, Manager of the Irish Youth Sailing Club tells us about another hectic year in 2002

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company continues to support the Irish Youth Sailing Club, which is based at the Marine Activity Centre on the West Pier. The Club teaches sailing and marine skills to young people of all backgrounds and is recognised by the Irish Sailing Association as a teaching establishment for small boat sailing and powerboats.

In 2002 over 200 certificates were issued to young people who completed courses, including Dún Laoghaire Sea Scouts leaders and Coast Guard members. In addition, training courses were completed in first aid, fire training, water safety, navigation. The Club conducts a Pier Walking Survey in conjunction with the Harbour Police of how many people use the harbour each year.

Stena Line's generosity helps make powerboat courses possible and also supports the Wales/Ireland link, which is now three years old. This lets young IYSC members complete Gaisce - the Presidents Awards and the young people in the UK complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Stena Line have also supported a link where young people from Wales come to learn marine skills in Dún Laoghaire Harbour and IYSC members go to Wales for mountain skills training.

The IYSC has its own fundraising shop on the West Pier, staffed voluntarily by our young members to keep our club afloat. This year, to generate income, we have sublet part of our premises to a dive school, Ocean Divers. This arrangement has the added bonus that next year all our members will be trained in introductory snorkelling and diving.

The Club how has its own website at www.iysc.ie and is well worth a visit.

Closure of East Pier Steps

The steps on the East Pier have been closed for safety reasons. We are getting an increasing number of accident reports detailing slips or falls by harbour users, particularly elderly people, using the steps. The difficulties with the steps include their uneven nature and the fact that they are too narrow to take safety railings.

Access from one level of the pier to the other is still possible at Berth No. 1, The Bandstand and the slope halfway down the pier.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused, but we feel the safety of harbour users must be our paramount importance.

DLHC is currently examining ways to safely provide access from top to bottom level at the end of the East Pier.

Contact

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company,
Harbour Lodge, Crofton Road,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co. Dublin Ph: 2801018 Fax: 2809607
E-mail: info@dlharbour.ie
Website: www.dlharbour.ie

This bulletin is published by the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company.
Information and articles may be published freely with acknowledgement.