MagicMum.com

A €4m upgrade of Dublin's Grafton Street is planned to start early next year. City councillors agreed last night to begin the process for tenders to be ready for September.
The monthly meeting heard that the current paving for the pedestrianised street was laid in the 1980s and now has to be repaired daily. A report presented to councillors stated that the new paving would be the same grey granite as in Henry Street.
The work would take about a year to complete and be phased so disruption is minimised.
A special information meeting for councillors will be held within two weeks.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0306/dublin-business.html

Anyone else think this is a huge waste of money? I know repairs are needed but €4 million!

I think so too, especially when you read reports like this http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing29.html where the hospital is appealing to the public to help raise the money for new cardiac and oncology facilities.

Omg that's a fookin joke!
Mrs Monroe has said exactly what I was going to say! Crumlin need €8!
It sickens me!

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FFS €4m would build a new cardiac or oncology ward in Crumlin

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I am sure if they had a vote for the people of Ireland they would brave the paving of Grafton st (or maybe avoid it all together seen as were all broke) and gladly send it to a childrens hospital or some other more worth cause...

Instead of paving Grafton Street they should come down the country and start re-taring roads. All our local roads are full of potholes at the edges since the snow in late 2010 early 2011!! Surely this would make more sense and could save lives and also save people money on car repairs! Also totally agree if that can't be done - spend it on the children's health system!! Last time I was in Grafton street I thought the pavement looked fine. Just don't get this type of spending!

It's gone to the stage we should start emailing government ministers links to MM pages to let them know exactly how the public feel on such matters. They are SO out of touch with reality!

I walked up & down Grafton street today & it's in bits.

Given the huge payouts in claims in this country I'd say 4 million would be reached pretty quickly with people falling & tripping up over the state of the cobble stones.

Still a huge amount of money

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"I guess that's just the circle of life: our parents faked their way through it,you fake your way through it and hopefully you don't raise a serial killer"

I remember this being installed in around 1983 or 1984 perhaps, there used to be benches in the middle for people to sit on.

Yes, it is in bits, & fairly hazardous regarding potential for falls etc, but as for them saying they are doing repairs on a daily basis, I don't think I've EVER EVER seen them repairing it.

By the way, that particular type of paving is extremely easy to repair, but the style is no longer fashionable, so maybe this is the real issue? Perhaps BT's etc aren't happy with the unfashionableness of it? Or just the fact that it's very damaged & frankly often disgustingly dirty?

This would be fixed, in full, for about €20,000 ( a very rough guess).

Also, as an aside, my dp installed paving of what I'd say is a similar size area, a couple of years back (a shopping centre) and by golly I can assure you he didn't bill them for anything remotely like that price. However the contractors who sub-contracted to him probably did charge the actual customer a huge amount (then of course there was the usual battle with them not paying DP in full etc).

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SIGN MY PETITION FOR BETTER BOYS CLOTHES BELOW....Please!!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/153/peti ... et-outlets

If there is a cost benefit analysis showing that it is less expensive to replace than continue to repair then it makes sense to do it.

Though maybe they could use all those binmen who don't have to empty bins any more to keep it repaired? What are they all doing these days?

Yes but...it could be repaired sufficiently well to last another 10 years or more, for somewhere in the region of 1% of the 4 million. There might be the odd repair required, but surely anyone can see that the repairs, if carried out efficiently, will cost peanuts by comparison to the 4 million. It's only because they haven't maintained it properly & dealt with repair issues quickly & efficiently to date that they are (I assume) insurance claims being issued.

Isn't it a sign of poor planning that a paving scheme can only last 25 years or so, when they used to last 50, 100 or several hundred years.

As an aside, that type of paving is not taught here in any type of apprenticeship scheme or training course. It is not officially recognised as a skill or trade here in Ireland. People either learned it where it is tought properly (e.g. UK) or else are self taught. The vast vast vast majority of people carrying out this work in Ireland are not sufficiently skilled, & do a poor job of it, even when it looks very neat & nice to the passerby. DP was properly trained in the UK, and he very rarely sees a job here in Ireland that has actually been 100% properly done.
So with the lack of skills here, the initial installation of these works is often substandard, and with little or no proper skilled maintenance it's hardly surprising that Grafton Street's paving looks as shabby as it does.
The dirtyness of it however is simply down to them not giving a toss.

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SIGN MY PETITION FOR BETTER BOYS CLOTHES BELOW....Please!!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/153/peti ... et-outlets

I can't think what it look like, is it the red brick driveway type?
I think I'd there are claims going in ( bound to be more now ) something needs to be done but 4m seems extortionate