Dublin docklands come back to life

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The transformation of Dublin's largely dormant docklands into a hi-tech living and working community is envisaged in a plan aiming to create up to 40,000 jobs and 10,000 homes in Dublin Bay.

The project is the largest single urban development project in Ireland since the country's independence. The draft master plan, which goes on public display today, amounts to a blueprint for a technology-driven new town on 1,300 acres along the north and south waterfronts and their hinterlands, until recently a wasteland.

The regeneration marks a turnaround for an area, which, like the London Docklands two decades ago, had long been in decline. Schools, adult- learning facilities and job-training programmes are planned; other elements include tax incentives, new transport links, hotels and a shopping centre. The draft plan can be viewed on the Internet: http://www.dda.ie from 11 September.