IRISH INDEPENDENT, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2000, FEATURES, PAGE 15

Could it really happen?

So can a new city really happen? The three-person committee behind it - William A. Thomas, Virginie Therese Lamotte and Edward Coughlan - firmly believe it can. They have submitted a detailed report titled A Millennium Vision of what Ire/and Can Offer for the Future to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. "It is now before the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) where it is being considered along with other submissions," confirmed a department official.

The purpose of the NSS is to achieve 'greater balance' in the distribution of resources and opportunity around Ireland. The NSS is expected to take two years to complete, after which its recommendations will become part of the National Development Plan.

Backing the idea:
Minister Eamon O'Cuiv

The estimated cost of the new city is £100 billion, 60% of which would come from private investment. Grant-aided by the EU development fund, the Government would finance the rest.

Should the project receive a green light bids for the huge constructioncontract would go to international tender. Submissions on design and amenities would be invited from the public and the tender awarded within nine months. Infrastructural development would take three years and the construction of buildings six years.

“What we're taking about is that the city would be inhabitable within seven years of getting the go-ahead," says Thomas. Although the NSS has already indicated a preference for developing 12 existing towns east of Athlone, the campaign for a new city in the west was bolstered last week when Eamon O Cuiv, Minister of State with responsibility for Islands, expressed enthusiasm about the idea. The Galway TD's remarks were greeted by the campaign as the first ministerial support for the project.