Monorail system for Airport & Fingal

BendiBus

http://www.onbusiness.ie/2003/1118/vega.html :ninja:

jd

Why a monorail?
surely it would be more flexible to use existing track guage?
jd

drrnwbb

frankly the most ridicilous thing ive read in a long time

In a statement, United Entertainment Partners (UEP) said the proposed Vega City development would cost €7 billion, would employ 40,000 people directly and would deliver 37 million tourists annually, giving €1 billion a year to the Exchequer.

even 3,7million tourists would be a stretch.

dw

dmeehan

this consortium plan to integrate the "monorail" with the (non-existing) metro line to the city centre
:rolleyes:

sounds as likely to happen as a theme park in dublin!

BendiBus

Personally I'd locate it at Limerick Junction TGV station, thereby providing high-speed rail links to Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Waterford airports

Floater

Originally posted by drrnwbb
frankly the most ridicilous thing ive read in a long time


even 3,7million tourists would be a stretch.

dw

If they have the money to spend on monorail why not talk them into coming on board with the integrated system so that people from all over Ireland can get to their park - as well as those arriving at the airport?



Floater

Sarsfield

Las Vegas had 35,071,504 visits in 2002 http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Feb-12-Wed-2003/business/20669909.html

Top attractions in the UK & France.

http://www.asktravelforfun.com/Pages/topattractions.asp

Even Disneyland Paris only managed about 12 million

I guess this will add impetus to the second terminal at Dublin

And maybe another DART extension?

Victor

Aer Rianta had plans about six years ago for a monorail to serve the outlying longstay car park (like JFK in New York).

Originally posted by drrnwbb
In a statement, United Entertainment Partners (UEP) said the proposed Vega City development would cost €7 billion, would employ 40,000 people directly and would deliver 37 million tourists annually, giving €1 billion a year to the Exchequer.

For tourists read shoppers.

Borzoi

Hey if they want to pay for it , let them.

But it occured to me that rather than building " a twin-track mono-rail system running 22km from Dublin Airport to the park", they'd probably be better off building their own airport. Especially if they're going to have 37million visitors a year, which is over twice Dublin ariport's own figures of 15.1 million last year.

Unless of course that this was their plan all along.:rolleyes:

Qadhafi

It seems like all theme parks use mono rails. I dont know what technical advantage they have over other types of rail?

Mono Rail homepage

They are going to link in the 'monorail' with the 'metro' that is never going to be built! They reckon that if they dont get planning permission they are going to look elsewhere in Europe.

Its a MASSIVE development and it does seem unlikely that Fingal County Council will give the green light.

Personally I think they should defintely go ahead with it(its all their own cash:D). As for capacity problems in Dublin airport, they can just add another runway and terminal. Even the private sector would build it.

Although the roads are another story, it looks like the M1 (with the extra lanes) would just look like the M50 now, with all that projected traffic.

shotamoose

Seems like a good idea to me. I mean, building a monorail sure put Ogdenville and North Haverbrook on the map

p

The whole this is most likely a scam to get the land re-zoned in 10 years time & build housing and make a tidy profit.

Hopefully it won't happen.

You should see what the people over at www.irish-architecture.com think. Mostly laughing.

loyatemu

I hear those things are awfully loud!

echomadman

But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...

Aside from this Theme park notion :rolleyes: personally I think there are better things they could be doing with the irish rail network *outside* of dublin.

Why a monorail?
surely it would be more flexible to use existing track guage?
jd

Irish track gauge is different(wider) than most, if not all of the rest of the worlds, so any new bogies have to be either custom made or extensively reworked, Monorails have the advantage of being elevated (usually) so you can get a monorail line through districts and area where conventional raill-lines would cause disruption to traffic etc. tend to be quieter (so cause less disturbance to residential areas)

sligoliner

LOL! This is priceless. I woke up this morning and Ireland has turned into a Simpsons episode. This is uber-Gombeenism at it's worst. I love the whole "we'll feck off te Europe buckos, if ye say no!!" God almighty, this country amazes me sometimes. This is most lilkey a front for massive housing developments or a casino (if god forbid Mickey Mouse does not want to have CJ Haughey for a neighbour). This is so obviously a pile of ****e with a hidden agenda it is almost laughable. The only people who fall for this crap are the unsophisticaed Paddies who are proud that two Irish Billionaires own a chunk of Man Utd c"os' there one of our own" while Irish sports are begging for investment. The monorail part is the best and tells the real story. Fingal Co Council are so right to smash this thing.

As for the rail connection, look up Owen O'Calaghans very interesting connections with CIE down in Cork which ended up being investigated by the government. The other bloke behind this joke built a factory in Wicklow and did not bother to even get planning permission. Yeah, real class acts behind this alright. Diamond Joe O'Quimby's all over the place.

altogether now:

"Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life my Hindu freind
Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!"

I am see the Department of Finance singing it right now with Charlie McCreevy and Joe Walsh wearing top hats ad tails....

sligoliner

Irish track gauge is different(wider) than most, if not all of the rest of the worlds, so any new bogies have to be either custom made or extensively reworked, Monorails have the advantage of being elevated (usually) so you can get a monorail line through districts and area where conventional raill-lines would cause disruption to traffic etc. tend to be quieter (so cause less disturbance to residential areas)

So a monorail which is nothing like a train is not a problem, but moving the wheels out a few inches on a standard british of the shelf railway bogie is?

http://www.platform11.org/lease.html


Secondly, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Finland, Indian, Pakistan, Brazil, Argentina and Japan all have non-international track gauge and many European countries like Switerland operate with lots of different gauges, but only in Ireland is this a curse apparently...

Qadhafi

I think they should go ahead with this theme park. Its extra revenue for the Government for a start. They plan to pay for some of the infastructure upgrades which we already need. Even if its a flop and has to be demolished in 10-15 years The construction of the project will be a huge spin off for the country. It will put Ireland on the map for being a tourist destination with more to do that simply looking at countryside.

The only objections I have are that it doesnt look cheap or really ugly. That they put up the cash for infastructure like upgrading the M1, Monorail, interchanges, sewerge works etc. Final C.C. has to ensure all of these things but apart from that there is no reason why it shouldnt go ahead.

Burago

This could be great or it could go terribly wrong. I think some of us should drop the cynicism and have a little vision.;)


What about us brain-dead slobs?

You'll be given cushy jobs...

Victor

Originally posted by echomadman
Irish track gauge is different(wider) than most, if not all of the rest of the worlds, so any new bogies have to be either custom made or extensively reworked, Monorails have the advantage of being elevated (usually) so you can get a monorail line through districts and area where conventional raill-lines would cause disruption to traffic etc. tend to be quieter (so cause less disturbance to residential areas)

Yeah, it might disturb the cows :rolleyes:

Usually you only elevate something to get around (or over!) something, it would be meaningless to do this over a distance of 22km.

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/1985583?view=Eircomnet

Planning clash could sink €7bn theme park
From:The Irish Independent
Wednesday, 19th November, 2003
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

A MASSIVE entertainment centre, intended for a sprawling site north of Dublin, has hit planning difficulties and may be moved elsewhere in Europe.

Backers of the €7bn project say it would be bigger than EuroDisney and would employ 40,000 people.

But they have run into fierce opposition from the local council, which claims the project would be a disaster for the roads and infrastructure.

This led to a warning from the United Entertainment Partners consortium that, if the council rejected the ambitious proposal, they would take it to another site in Europe.

The project is proposed for a 2,500-acre site, twice the size of the Phoenix Park, in North Co Dublin.

The consortium, chaired by Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan, yesterday revealed new details of what would be Europe's biggest leisure and entertainment centre.

Vega City would have three giant theme parks, 14 hotels, 10,000 to 14,000 apartments and a conference centre seating 10,000.

There is intense speculation that theme park giants such as Universal Studios and Anheuser Busch, which run highly successful operations in the US, may become involved as operators of the sea-world and cartoon-character parks.

There would be 40,000 jobs at the centre and another 25,000 indirectly, with a €1bn tax yield to the Exchequer, according to the developers. They say it would attract 37m tourists annually, even more than EuroDisney.

UEP, which says it is backed by international and Irish investors, also said yesterday it will build the world's longest monorail stretching 25km from Dublin airport to the centre, which could link up with the Government's proposed Metro.

But the plan immediately ran into trouble with Fingal Co Council. It issued a detailed report warning that the viability of the project was "highly questionable" and claiming it might eventually be replaced by massive housing developments.

Branding the massive project "unsustainable", the council planning report predicted "there will be pressure to redevelop these areas for additional residential and commercial developments" if the theme parks don't work out.

The project would also cause serious traffic congestion "and chaos on the national and regional roads networks", senior planning officials warned in a report circulated to councillors.

Worst affected would be the M50 and M1, which would not be able to cope with planned growth, the report said.

Under the Vega City plan, the consortium would pay for two new lanes along the M1. There would also be 10 exits off the M1 connecting to the extra lanes, two new interchanges, and an upgrading of the N1 road with eight access points.

But council planners said the county would not be able to cope with the traffic or the extra demands on the sewerage system. Fingal would lose 3,300 acres of agricultural green belt.

Expressing grave concern over the impact of the project, the council said an extra 30m passengers every year would use up all of the existing and planned capacity at Dublin Airport up to 2020. It would be twice as many passengers as use Gatwick Airport.

The report was carried out by senior council planners David O'Connor, Peter Gillett and Marjorie O'Shee.

A special meeting of the council is being held next Monday to discuss the proposals.

But a spokesperson for the consortium said if it was rejected it would then be brought elsewhere in Europe.

Dublin businessman Louis Maguire, the UEP managing director, told the Irish Independent yesterday: "It is going to happen. We just hope it will happen in Ireland. It's an opportunity for Ireland that should not be lost. We are dealing with 90pc of the 20 top entertainment companies in the world."

According to a detailed statement on the project, there would be three world-famous family theme parks built and operated by US corporations. These would be a "white-knuckle ride" and safari park, a movie and cartoon character-branded park and an aquatic park.

The plan also includes an 18-hole championship golf course, an equestrian centre and an ice rink. There would also be 250 retail outlets supported by 350 cafes, restaurants and bars.

Qadhafi

If the Vega City project does go ahead and they do build that monorail. Its going to mean that all passengers from the city centre having to stop and change at the Airport from the metro to the monorail. Why would they just continue the Metro(on the surface) the 22km?

Victor

Originally posted by Qadhafi
If the Vega City project does go ahead and they do build that monorail. Its going to mean that all passengers from the city centre having to stop and change at the Airport from the metro to the monorail. Why would they just continue the Metro(on the surface) the 22km?

But that would be sensible and un"cool", like you are going to Vega city for the "experience" man!

loyatemu

i like Suzanne Vega as much as the next person, but I'm not sure if she has much "theme park" potential.

echomadman

So a monorail which is nothing like a train is not a problem, but moving the wheels out a few inches on a standard british of the shelf railway bogie

My point was that these things can be bought pre-fabbed, as opposed to a halfarsed re-tooling of an already halfarsed railnetwork

I believe i indicated my disdain for the project as a whole.

Sarsfield

If they expect 37 million visitors, then obviously the vast majority will be flying in.

Why on earth try to build this project on relatively expensive east coast land, near the most congested airport when it would be just as accessible to its customers if it was built beside Knock for example? And would likely face far less opposition (at least in numerical terms)

The new town theory looks quite plausible.

Monorail is a total mickey take. Of course the obvious solution, based on their own reference to it, would be the extension of the metro.

It would appear we are living in trough a real life episode of the Simpsons.

Thankfully, even local councillors can see straight through this nonsense.

Who owns all this land at the moment?

Victor

Originally posted by Sarsfield
If they expect 37 million visitors, then obviously the vast majority will be flying in.

Or driving from Dublin and Belfast.

Originally posted by Sarsfield
Why on earth try to build this project on relatively expensive east coast land, near the most congested airport when it would be just as accessible to its customers if it was built beside Knock for example? And would likely face far less opposition (at least in numerical terms)

Perhaps it doesn't suit their agenda / target audience.

Originally posted by Sarsfield
Who owns all this land at the moment?

Mostly locals, a few farmers and householders.

DMT

Originally posted by sligoliner
This is most lilkey a front for massive housing developments or a casino

Well then it won't get past the planning stage - you can't get planning permission for a theme park and then build houses instead.

If Fingal County Council turn down this project at this early stage it would be the most anally Irish typically-backward decision ever made in this country.

What makes Ireland so special that building a theme park here couldn't work and it can work practically everywhere else?

Qadhafi

I think the theme park is a golden oppurtunity. The developers have to fork out the cash to develop infastruture before it can go ahead but it can only develop Ireland.

There is a lot of local support from people getting generous payements for their land. Also as far as Im aware Florida unlike the other states doesnt pay income tax. now thats a real benefit.

The downside is that it will probably look totally out of place but I think thats a small price to pay.

However this monorail, I had reservations with the Metro but this is just stupid. They should simply build a metro line from the theme park to the airport. Like how many different rail mediums are we going to have on the east coast: Dart, Luas, Metro, regular rail and a monorail! Did they ever hear of adopting international best practice?

Victor

Originally posted by Qadhafi
There is a lot of local support from people getting generous payements for their land. Also as far as Im aware Florida unlike the other states doesnt pay income tax. now thats a real benefit.

I'm not sure how thats a benefit, especially as all Americans also pay federal income tax (you can write off state taxes against your federal income tax bill).

Qadhafi

Hollywood interest inDublin theme park
The Sunday Business Post
23/11/03 00:00
By Neil Callanan
***********************************
The backers of the Vega City theme park planned for north Dublin have had talks with representatives of film studio MGM, theme park specialist Six Flags, 20th Century Fox and its parent, News Corporation, with a view to attracting them to the site.
Universal Entertainment Partners (UEP) also met executives of Busch International, which operates Sea World and Busch Gardens, a safari-style park in Florida.

Universal Studios, which owns several theme parks, is also understood to have shown interest in the scheme.

Developer Owen O'Callaghan, chair man of UEP, would not be drawn on who had signed up for the scheme. But he said a major film com


pany that did not have a base in Europe had approached the company expressing interest in the scheme.

UEP hopes to attract 37 million visitors a year to three theme parks on a 2,500-acre site between Balbriggan and Swords.There will also be golf courses, shopping centres, 14 hotels, a conference centre, an equestrian centre, an ice rink and 10,000 apartments for short-term lets.

Fingal Co Council has said the scheme materially contravenes "government policy, national and regional planning guidelines and the County Development Plan, and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of Fingal and the greater Dublin area".

O'Callaghan admitted that the local authority planning report was "very negative". The developer said he was "not making it sound easy. It will be extremely difficult to get permission for it and it will be difficult to even get them to accept a planning application for it. It's good for the country, but there's huge problems."

He also said UEP was willing to address the infrastructure issue and would consider funding part of the outer ring motorway if it would help alleviate congestion caused by those visiting the parks.

Victor

That story has been thrashed by one of the other Sunday papers with the American side denying all knowledge (this may be due to confidentiality clauses or overstatements by the developers.).

Qadhafi

Vega City consortium to meet with council

14:46 Monday November 24th 2003
The Irish Independent
*************************************



The consortium behind a proposal to build a €7b theme park in north County Dublin says it needs to sit down with Fingal County Council to discuss the project. United Entertainment Partners wants to develop the Vega City project on a 3,300-acre park in north Dublin. They say 35 million people would visit annually and it would employ up to 40,000 people. But Fingal County Council says the project goes against Government policy, and they would need to see details of it. United Entertainment Partners say at this stage, they are not looking for planning permission or even the right to apply for it. Spokesman Conor Dempsey says all they are looking for is dialogue.

Qadhafi

Personally I think its high time all the backers of the proposed project speak up and lay out what their exact plans are. Infastructure plans regarding the M1, Dublin Airport, sewage, rail, electricity etc should be all laid out. Is this going to cost the tax payer anything and are they serious about the project?

Hopefully they can sort this all out, ditch the stupid monorail idea and should start work immediately!

Victor

Originally posted by Qadhafi
Hopefully they can sort this all out, ditch the stupid monorail idea and should start work immediately!

You have to be a little more careful than that. For example the problem with access to Dublin airport has been staff (most drive), not passengers (most use public transport / taxis). They are expecting 100,000 visitors on any given day, but you need to take into account that people may stay for several days, meaning you might have an average of 30,000 visitor return journeys (60,000 total) per day (about 150 Boeing 737s full). On top of that, you have the 40,000 staff. Where do they live? How will they get to and from work?

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/2018731?view=Eircomnet

Council to seek proof of Vega City backing
From:The Irish Independent
Monday, 24th November, 2003
Paul Melia

COUNCILLORS in North Co Dublin will today demand proof from a group behind the proposed €7bn Vega City theme park that it has financial backing in place to complete the project.

This comes despite a threat from the Vega City consortium to pull out of Ireland unless it's taken seriously.

Yesterday a spokesman for United Entertainment Partners (UEP), which includes Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan, insisted that 18 international entertainment firms were in negotiations about funding the project. But they were not prepared to come forward publicly until they got "proper engagement" from the local authority.

And he said, those firms were ready to take the huge project elsewhere unless the council responded more positively to the proposal.

Last week, a 37-page planning report from officials at Fingal County Council said the project would contravene Government policy, national and regional planning guidelines and the county's own development plan, while having "adverse environmental, social and economic impacts".

A special meeting of the council has been called for this afternoon where the Vega City consortium will make a presentation to members on its plans.

The consortium says it has €3.5bn in finance available which would be drawn down if planning permission was granted, but a "masterplan" would not be drawn up unless the council stated that the group "were on the right page", the spokesman said.

The consortium last month submitted an outline proposal for the theme park, which addressed transport, utilities, site layout and concept issues. The council responded with a 37-page report shooting down the proposal.

"The position of the consortium is that they had indicated their serious intent to Fingal planners," the spokesman said.

UEP claims that major Hollywood studios MGM, Universal and 20th Century Fox have expressed interest in the proposal, which if approved would see three hotels, 14,000 residential units and 300,000 square metres of retail space put in place.

The group dismissed a newspaper report yesterday which indicated that some of the alleged backers had not been approached about the project.

The consortium has apparently offered landowners €125,000 an acre - five times the agricultural price - which would facilitate development of the 3,300-acre park. It is estimated that 35m people would visit annually with 18m coming from overseas.

Last night, Fingal county councillors told the Irish Independent that elected members had an "open mind" on the proposal, but required guarantees that backers with sufficient resources were in place to see the project through, with detailed proposals also needed before elected members would consider rezoning large tracts of land to facilitate development.

"It is estimated that 35m people would visit annually with 18m coming from overseas." Will Irish people visit a theme park average 4+ times a year?

tbh

Am I the only one thinking: "Theme Park?.....Fingal?...WTF???"

It's bizarre. I think I read somewhere yesterday that there are suspicions that the theme park is only a front for a retail development. They re-zone the land, the theme park "falls through" and they build a load of shops. Purely heresay, on my part, but its interesting

Caimin

Victor

Originally posted by caimin
They re-zone the land, the theme park "falls through" and they build a load of shops.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=1220617#post1220617

Originally posted by Victor
For tourists read shoppers.

sceptre

It is estimated that 35m people would visit annually with 18m coming from overseas.

Assuming we've 5 million people on the island and that all of them will visit, does that mean they expect us all to visit 4 times a year, every year and bring Granny as well?

((35-18)/5)

Qadhafi

North Dublin theme park is abandoned
November 24, 2003
(20:50)
RTE
****************************

The proposers of a €7bn theme park for north Co Dublin have said they will not now develop the park in Ireland after councillors on Fingal County Council described the proposal as unacceptable.

At a special meeting, the United Entertainment Partners gave a presentation to councillors on their plans, but the councillors described it as vague and sloppy.

The County Manager, William Soffe, said the proposal was not a runner.
Afterwards Owen O'Callaghan, the chairman of the consortium, said they may now take their plans elsewhere in Europe.

West Briton

Not surprisingly, Fingal have canned the project.

My personal preference would have been to give them the goahead, to see if they could actually deliver what they had promised.

But no, our great National Negative Groupthink has won again.

Just as well fire or the wheel wasn't invented in Ireland.

Victor

Originally posted by West Briton
But no, our great National Negative Groupthink has won again.

Hang on, someone proposing to spend €7,000,000,000 couldn't stump up enough money to bribe 20 something councillors for a wee bit of plannning permission?

Or more correctly they weren't competent enough to convince them. That means they weren't competent enough to deliver the project.

BendiBus

The presentation was described as "vague & sloppy". If they then give up on a €7 billion project so easily, then they can't have been too serious in the first place.

Qadhafi

Pixie dust promises fail to work magic for 'Vague City' fairyland
Paul Melia
The Irish Independent
25-November-2003
************************************

FINGAL last night turned its back on a Fairyland for north Co Dublin at "Vega City" because proposers only managed to paint a picture of "Vague City".

Despite talk of €7bn being pumped into a 2,500-acre theme park, the group behind the scheme, United Entertainment Partners, couldn't commit to investing €8m into a detailed planning application.

And so, due to the lack of the all-important detail, councillors ignored threats from the group to pull out of Dublin - and indeed Ireland - and voted by 19-1 against the proposal.

Now it's on to pastures new for the creators of the magical wonderland who guaranteed thousands of jobs, hefty taxes for the Government and a futuristic monorail for north Dublin.

Themed elements to the park - including New York City and Venice cityscapes, a fairyland castle, a self-contained waterpark with beach - were promised, but councillors weren't swayed over the course of a special meeting called last night to give some detail.

An expensive powerpoint presentation was planned (which didn't work) so chairman of UEP, Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan, opened proceedings.

He said he was "shocked" that north Co Dublin was so underdeveloped, especially with "all the fine land".

"It's a pity really," he mused, "and we're here to do something about this."

But it wouldn't all be smooth sailing to get the wonderland up and running. There were infrastructural and planning problems to be addressed (to which UEP had the solution), and even if the park broke every planning strategy known to both the council and the country, it didn't matter - they were "only guidelines".

Maybe the project was "too big" for Fingal, or even Dublin, but it would be "a pity" if the group felt it had to walk away, he concluded.

But if Owen was in charge of seducing the elected members into UEP's way of thinking, managing director Louis Maguire was the passionate details man.

"We're looking for meaningful engagement, we're not looking for answers right now," he said, but if the council wasn't prepared to give the group at least an idea of its thinking he'd walk out the door without a second glance.

The details came hard and fast. The financial backers were household names. There'd be 65,000 jobs and €1bn to the Exchequer in taxes. A monorail. Nine million visitors to Dublin. A power station. Better roads. And at no cost to the taxpayer! UEP would provide it all.

And it got better. A family could stay in one of the 10,000 holiday apartments for under €50 a night. Hotel rooms could go from €60. 37m people would visit by 2014, and €500m would be spent on tree planting. Money was available right now to pay landowners €125,000 an acre, five times the going rate.

But there was a condition. "Vega City cannot be cut down, we will not bring it down, we will move elsewhere," he warned.

"One of our major backers is announcing its involvement at the end of the week. I wish I was allowed to tell you today but I'm not, you'll have to wait until the end of the week."

Maybe he should have. Because of the lack of detail, Fingal firmly said 'no' to Fairyland.

Victor

Out of sequence, but what the hey.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-904899,00.html

November 23, 2003
Americans deny backing €7 billion Co Dublin theme park
Scott Millar

TWO American entertainment corporations deny claims by Irish promoters that they are involved in a proposed €7 billion theme park for north Dublin.
Owen O’Callaghan, a Cork property developer, said yesterday that six leading entertainment companies are backing the project, including 20th Century Fox and Sony. But two of the companies have denied this.

Jim Yeager, head of publicity with Universal, said: “Universal has not had meetings with any representatives of this group and we have no intention of developing any parks in Ireland at this time, or indeed any time.”

Charles Grace, a spokesman for Six Flags, the world’s largest theme-park operator, denied that the company was involved. “We are not planning to build any kind of park in Ireland at this time,” he said.

Despite the denials, the Vega City consortium still maintains that international entertainment corporations are backing the project. O’Callaghan, chairman of United Entertainment Partners, the company behind the proposed north Dublin development, said: “That is not what we have heard from them. We are very much of the opinion that they are very interested in this project and are prepared to come to Dublin.

“The only reason I can think of that they have said that is because we are not firm enough with the proposals yet.”

O’Callaghan says UEP has also had talks with 20th Century Fox, Sony and MGM. Other companies which the consortium is connecting with the Dublin theme park are the News Corporation and Virgin Airlines. The News Corporation is parent company of The Sunday Times. None of these companies was able to confirm having held meetings with the UEP consortium.

O’Callaghan added: “I have not had discussions with them personally but we have had. Louis Maguire has had discussions with these people.”

Maguire, a director of UEP, also says he has discussed the project with executives at various entertainment corporations and they are willing to back the proposal financially. “All these corporations are assessing the project seriously and once we have a master plan in place we can then go to the boards of these corporations and lock down the deals,” Maguire said.

“The initial costs would be around €3 billion, and we currently have that on the table from the corporations which have expressed interest.”

A meeting of Fingal council tomorrow will assess the validity of the four square mile theme park, which promises 40,000 jobs but would need 27m visitors to be viable.

“They should be accepting this with open arms and saying this is a great thing for the country. It is the sort of thing that we want to develop and people should be delighted to get on board,” Maguire said.

Fingal planners fear that the theme park is really a cover for a retail development.

O’Callaghan is unwilling to change “to any extent” the retail aspects of the development. “The theme parks are a very important element of the development but so, equally, are the retail and the hotels,” he said. O’Callaghan envisaged that certain aspects could go ahead separately, although the consortium’s main concern “was that the complete project goes ahead”.

Maguire rejected the notion that the theme park is a “Trojan horse” for a retail development.

Planners have dismissed the viability of the park as “highly questionable”. One planner assessed UEP’s submission as “an extremely rudimentary and unprofessional effort. One of the artist’s impressions seemed to be from a fairy-tale book”.

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/2034089?view=Eircomnet

Councillor wants Vega City plan to be reconsidered
From:ireland.com
Wednesday, 26th November, 2003

The proposed €7 billion holiday and entertainment complex proposed for north Dublin has been thrown a lifeline by the vice chairman of Fingal County Council.

The "Vega City" project was deemed impractical on Monday after the promoters, United Entertainment Partners (UEP), made a presentation to councillors.

But today, council vice chairman, Mr Jon Rainey, called for further consultation with UEP. He said Government departments and other local authorities should be involved and an independent adjudicator appointed to assess the merits of the proposal.

"As this venture is so big, it is important all appropriate agencies and statutory bodies are consulted and brought into the feasibility process," Mr Rainey said.

Councillors voted 19 to 1 against the proposals but UEP chairman, Mr Owen O'Callaghan, said the presentation was preliminary and not a full-scale planning application.

Mr Rainey, who voted in support of the project, said today: "I believe there is a majority of councillors on Fingal County Council prepared to give this venture a chance. Unfortunately due to the wording of the motions tabled on Monday, some members had difficulty in supporting its progression."

He said it would be the UEP proposals carried "minimal risk to the taxpayer and many great opportunities".