Tourist visits to this “gem of eighteenth-century neo-classical architecture” are relatively low. The OPW hopes the new additions will boost them.
As the gates of the Marino Casino close for business on Wednesday evening, a dog runs excitedly around the field just outside the Casino grounds.
Her owner tries to beckon her back. The black and white Jack Russell pays him no heed. She got wind of a fox somewhere in the long grass, her owner says.
The Casino was once a “pleasure-house” for James Caulfeild, first earl of Charlemont, beside his home, in what was then the countryside.
These days, this “gem of eighteenth-century neo-classical architecture” is an Office of Public Works-run tourist attraction, according to the OPW’s Heritage Ireland website.
It holds 16 ornately decorated rooms, according to the website. Visitors can pay to take a guided tour.
It draws 12,500 to 30,000 visitors annually in recent years, according to the OPW. The number was 10,882 in 2023, according to Fáilte Ireland.
This is lower than it could be, according to the OPW. The infrastructure’s just not there to welcome many more visitors, so it hasn’t been marketed as widely as it deserves, given its quality, it says.
“With the right facilities solution and given where it is located close to the centre of Dublin, the site could overcome these issues and perform significantly better in tourism terms,” it says.
So the OPW is planning to build a new visitor centre there.
At Monday’s meeting of Dublin City Council’s North Central Area Committee, councillors were asked to approve the disposal of 2.49ha adjoining the Casino to build the new centre, a council manager told councillors in a report.
The plan is for the centre to include two exhibition spaces for events and concerts, the report says.
Plans also incorporate a café, open to the general public and tiered seating outside the proposed building, to be used as an outside classroom space.
This planned Casino visitor centre is just what the area needs, says Pat Normanly, secretary of the Marino Residents Association.
While locals are really proud of the Casino building, she says, it’s not very accessible for people with mobility issues, due to its architecture.
Last year, residents celebrated the centenary of the original Marino housing estate, she says.
“We collaborated with the Casino, with the OPW, and had an exhibition up there. And we've had exhibitions there for Heritage Week as well, this year and the year before,” she says.
But a new, more accessible exhibition and concert space would be brilliant news for the creatives in the area, Normanly says.
Last year, the OPW issued a tender looking to establish a “single party framework agreement” for “provision of interpretation and exhibition design” for the new visitors centre, for up to €750,000.
“The scope of the contract will cover preliminary interpretative design,
detailed design, procurement of works contractor, works supervision and handover,” the tender documents say.
If this council land is being handed over to the OPW, what compensation is in it for the area? asked independent Councillor Kevin Breen at Monday’s meeting.
Olga Harney, from the council’s valuer department, said her instruction from council management was to agree the deal for a small amount– which is set at €100, according to the report.
Since the project brings social and community benefits, with access to the coffee shop, the open space, toilets, and the outdoor classroom, Harney said. “The benefit would be sufficient compensation.”
Donna Cooney, a councillor and the Green Party spokesperson for arts and culture, also looked for assurance that the land would remain open to community use.
“That's my main concern, that it's not going to be cordoned off and blocked off only for people going to the Casino. That the residents will also have access,” she said.
Planning permission still has to be sought for the development, and the land transfer is subject to that permission being granted, said Harney.
It’s a condition of the terms agreed that it is to be for the benefit of the community, she said. “It's for social, community and amenity purposes associated with heritage, tourism, culture and/or arts, to include appropriate ancillary services.”
It’s already a brilliant feature of the area, Cooney says, but one that is underused. Not enough people know it exists, she says.
There is a great exhibition running there at the moment, Echo, by Clontarf artist Eithne Jordan, Cooney says.
Normanly, of the Marino Residents Association, says that while many local residents are proud of the quirky, historic building, not enough people from elsewhere are aware of it.
“There still is a feeling that people aren't quite sure what goes on there,” she said. “So, I think definitely a visitor centre and a coffee shop would bring more engagement, and more of a link to the local community.”
At their meeting on Monday, the council committee backed the disposal of the site to the OPW. The proposal will now go before the full council.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
Almost 50 faith-based groups play a big role in helping people navigate civic life in the north inner-city, it says – and the council should tap into them, it says.
It’s meant to control traffic leaving the Whitehall Colmcille GAA clubhouse car park, across a footpath, onto the road.
There’s a desperate need for a roadmap to improve efforts to help people navigate immigrant life, and connect, say councillors and community workers.
The greenbelt is there to check sprawl, protect the countryside, and preserve land for recreation, biodiversity and farming, a Fingal council official said.
