High hopes for resurrecting Dublin's dormant cable car project
There are rumours that a long-dormant cable car project in Dublin could be resurrected.
This cable car scheme, known as the ‘Suas,’ was first proposed back in 2006, but failed to gain planning permission from Dublin City Council . While the developer Barry Boland held out hope for its return, the project has continually stalled over the past two decades.
However, Mr Boland has stated the Suas is not completely off the table and was quoted in Lovin Dublin as saying he could move forward with a planning application within three months. With an estimated cost of €80 million, the plan is to install cable cars above the River Liffey which would run from the 3Arena to near Heuston station.
The goal of the Suas was to create a major attraction within Dublin city that could act as an equivalent to the London Eye or the Eiffel Tower. The original proposal from the Liffey Cable Car Company required four towers to be built along the river, two of which would have been 80 meters tall.
With each cable car holding a total of 25 people, previous reports state passengers would pay €15 for a one-way 20-minute trip across the city. Designed as more of a tourist attraction than as a means of public transport, the implementation of the Suas would add Dublin to the list of cities with cable cars, which include New York, San Francisco, Mexico City, London, and so many more.
When contacted for comment, the Council revealed that the Suas project did not progress through the planning process in 2006 because the developer was unable to secure the necessary permissions for use of public land. This included accommodating the support towers required for the cable cars.
An application to have the project designated as a Strategic Infrastructure Development was also later denied by An Bord Pleanála in 2007, with the plan never proceeding past the planning consent stage.
The Council stated that any similar proposal for cable cars above the River Liffey would need to progress through the standard planning process. This would include an assessment of its policy compliance with the Dublin City Development Plan 2022–2028, an environmental assessment, as well as public consultation.
While Mr Boland has high hopes for reviving the Suas project, the Council say they have not received any pre-planning request or planning applications for a proposed cable car development within the city.
The Suas project has caught the interest of local representatives in the past, with Labour Cllr Dermot Lacey stating he was in favour of exploring the idea. “We need more imagination, we need more creativity, we need more exciting projects,” he said.
“I always supported it on that basis, it deserved to get a hearing, it deserved to get a try-out, and if it wasn’t going to work we’d see that it in the planning process. We have a terrible tendency to knock things in Dublin,” he added.
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