#CruiseBerthPlans – The Herald writes that from today plans for a controversial jumbo cruise ship facility in Dun Laoghaire harbour will go on public view.

The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company (DLHC) lodged (last Friday as previously reported on Afloat) a planning application for the upgrade of the harbour with An Bord Pleanala at a cost of €100,000.

Prior to lodging the application, the company held a three-week public consultation period earlier this year. It said that 139 people made submissions - the vast majority of which (104) were opposed to the plans.

However in its application to the planning authority, the DLHC has said that most of the concerns expressed by people were based on misunderstandings about the plans.

The company prepared a response to these concerns addressing the most common issues, including the perception the plans would bring no economic benefit or would negatively impact on harbour users.

In a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement, the company proposed that there would be no major, lasting negative impact to the users or the environment of the harbour.

However it did acknowledge that the jumbo cruise ships would "have a significant impact on all existing views towards the harbour".

"A proportion of existing harbour users may consider the sheer scale of the docked ship to be negative given that the vast majority of other vessels using the harbour are small by comparison," it said.

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