The government has rejected a request for funding for a whitewater rafting facility in Dublin City Centre.
City Council officials had sought €19m in funding under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund.
The proposed facility on The Quays is being developed by Dublin City Council, with the cost expected to reach over €25m.
The initial cost was projected – at committee stage – to be in the region of €12m, though that soon soared.
The Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has now refused to allocate the €19m for the facility, leaving the prospect of such a venture dwindling by a thread.
The aim of the development is to be a major tourist facility allowing for canoeing, rafting and kayaking.
Dublin City Council has declined to comment on the latest update on the long running development.
Senator Marie Sherlock voted against the proposal when it was presented in 2019:
”We were told at the time that the funding was only going to come from sports funding, that it was ring-fenced for a project like this and could not be used for any other need in Dublin city and of course with mass need with regards to housing or indeed transport or indeed other issues in Dublin city, then I thought that this was simply too much, too great an amount of money to be allocating to a project such as this.”
