Latest news with #Fingal
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Dublin Airport viewing area cleared for take-off
Dublin Airport has secured planning permission from Fingal County Council to build improved viewing facilities for the public to watch aircraft take off and land on its runways. The approval comes after DAA provided the local authority with additional information on the proposal, which it submitted last year. It is aiming to significantly enhance the site of the current informal airport viewing point – a layby locally known as 'The Mound' – in operation for more than 40 years, on the Old Airport Road. DAA is to build a permanent, sheltered facility for people to watch aircraft taking off and landing. READ MORE 'When complete, the facility will provide a comfortable, dry and safe space for the community to view aircraft movements, with a clear view of the south runway and the crosswind runway at the airport,' it said. The site is owned by the airport and construction of the free-to-access facility will be paid for by DAA 'as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting and working with the local community'. [ DAA's plan to build a facility for Dublin Airport plane spotters delayed at planning stage Opens in new window ] The existing muddy grass mound and the adjacent informal parking area will be replaced with a dedicated car park (including spaces for people with reduced mobility and families), bike parking and an elevated covered platform with seating. It will be fully-lit with power provided by solar panels. Airport managing director Gary McLean said: 'This news will be cheered by locals, families and aviation enthusiasts all around the Dublin region. The public reaction to our proposal has been incredibly positive and people really want it. 'It's a rite of passage for kids in Dublin to be taken to 'The Mound' to watch the planes landing and taking off at the airport. This new facility will make it safer and more enjoyable for users and we think it's a facility that the local community will really enjoy.'
Sydney Morning Herald
22-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
On this great walk, my accommodation follows me along
At Gairlochy, the first lock north of Neptune's Staircase, we rendezvous with the barge after two hours of walking. With the locks along the canal closing each evening, halting all boat traffic, we moor below the gates in motionless wait for morning. The shores of Loch Lochy are just beyond, and the only sounds to reach us are from within – the movement of our six passengers and three crew, and the welcome clatter of Mike, the Fingal's chef, at work in the open galley. A pattern soon settles over the days, with walks each morning and afternoon, returning to the Fingal for lunches of soup and barge-baked bread and baguettes. As the barge squeezes into Gairlochy's locks after breakfast the next morning, its 180 tonnes rising on an elevator of water, we continue hiking along the GGW. Along the southern shores of Loch Lochy, the Way is at its most beautiful, framed by mountains and winding through forest so green even the light seems tinged with colour. It was on these shores that Allied troops trained for the D-Day landings in 1945, and here that Achnacarry, the ancestral estate of the Clan Cameron chiefs, sprawls across an isthmus between Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig. The GGW marches blindly past Achnacarry, but we turn up a hidden path beside a village church to enter the estate. Looking over green fields and sheep to its Scottish Baronial castle, it's like we've stepped into every British period drama ever filmed. Alongside the castle there's a clan museum, but we're bound for the Dark Mile at the estate's far end. Though it sounds like something from a Stephen King novel, the Dark Mile looks more like something from a fairy tale – a mile-long country lane where the drystone walls and the roadside trees and earth are inches thick in moss. Through this cushioned landscape we return to the loch, where the barge's tender awaits us, one of our longest walking days done after just 11 kilometres. The presence of the barge allows us this kind of ease that's uncommon on long-distance trails. Along the canal, we simply step off the barge directly onto the paths. On the lochs, the tender ferries us to and from the shores. Once aboard, one half of the barge is a communal space of couches, an honesty bar of local whiskies and craft beers, an extensive library and a large dining table for meals – from ox-cheek broth to Balmoral chicken stuffed with haggis – that we share with the crew. At Laggan Locks, at the head of Loch Lochy, the Caledonian Canal performs its greatest trick. So much of the canal was built beside rivers, but here it needed to cross a low hill that rose as a watershed within the Great Glen. It was the final section of the canal to be constructed – a two-kilometre-long hurdle – but it took 500 workers seven years to complete. Known today as Laggan Avenue, it's a section that's wasted on walkers, with the canal obscured by trees, so we remain aboard as the Fingal motors on from the locks. For half an hour, it feels more like an Amazon cruise than a Scottish walking trip, with a jungle-like strip of forest reaching down to and over the canal. 'This is totally different to any canal I've ever been on,' says skipper Adam Evans. 'It's my favourite part of the canal.' Soon, the canal widens again into Loch Oich and finally Loch Ness, Scotland's most famous body of water. Its dimensions are as monstrous as its myths – containing more water than all the lakes and rivers in England and Wales combined, it's up to 300 metres deep, giving it a sense of mystery that fuelled the legend of Nessie. We continue to use the water as a diving board into a host of trails – walks to waterfalls, over low hills, through blueberry-carpeted forests and eventually to the Caledonian Canal's end at the Moray Firth. In Loch Ness, we moor by a pier in Foyers, on the loch's quieter and wilder eastern side, where we've watched goats grazing at the water's edge and been circled by a sea eagle – the largest bird in the UK. But the best comes in the calm of dawn as I take my coffee up onto the deck of the barge. Less than 100 metres ahead of us, a stream pours into the loch through a green glow of forest. As I watch, two deer step out of the trees and into Loch Ness. As they dip their heads to drink, not a single other thing around the loch seems to move. Loading Far across the water, on the path proper for the GGW, there will be hikers now stirring, packing up tents or already on the move. But here, I'm in no hurry. We will soon sail towards Inverness and the trip's end but, for the moment, I have the most beautiful and natural of company. THE DETAILS WALK UTracks' seven-day Scotland Coast to Coast Rambler Walk and Barge trip begins in Fort William and finishes in Inverness, and includes all meals and accommodation on the Fingal of Caledonia. Prices start from $3690 per person. See RIDE The Great Glen Way is a walking track that can also be sped up into a cycling trip. Cyclists largely follow the same path as hikers, riding flat and fast along the towpaths and then inching along single track and fire roads higher up slopes above the lochs. The trail requires a mountain bike and can be comfortably cycled in three days, as per the itinerary on UTrack's self-guided Great Glen Cycleway trip, where nights are spent in Invergarry (42 kilometres from Fort William) and beside Loch Ness in Drumnadrochit (48 kilometres from Invergarry).
The Age
22-05-2025
- The Age
On this great walk, my accommodation follows me along
At Gairlochy, the first lock north of Neptune's Staircase, we rendezvous with the barge after two hours of walking. With the locks along the canal closing each evening, halting all boat traffic, we moor below the gates in motionless wait for morning. The shores of Loch Lochy are just beyond, and the only sounds to reach us are from within – the movement of our six passengers and three crew, and the welcome clatter of Mike, the Fingal's chef, at work in the open galley. A pattern soon settles over the days, with walks each morning and afternoon, returning to the Fingal for lunches of soup and barge-baked bread and baguettes. As the barge squeezes into Gairlochy's locks after breakfast the next morning, its 180 tonnes rising on an elevator of water, we continue hiking along the GGW. Along the southern shores of Loch Lochy, the Way is at its most beautiful, framed by mountains and winding through forest so green even the light seems tinged with colour. It was on these shores that Allied troops trained for the D-Day landings in 1945, and here that Achnacarry, the ancestral estate of the Clan Cameron chiefs, sprawls across an isthmus between Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig. The GGW marches blindly past Achnacarry, but we turn up a hidden path beside a village church to enter the estate. Looking over green fields and sheep to its Scottish Baronial castle, it's like we've stepped into every British period drama ever filmed. Alongside the castle there's a clan museum, but we're bound for the Dark Mile at the estate's far end. Though it sounds like something from a Stephen King novel, the Dark Mile looks more like something from a fairy tale – a mile-long country lane where the drystone walls and the roadside trees and earth are inches thick in moss. Through this cushioned landscape we return to the loch, where the barge's tender awaits us, one of our longest walking days done after just 11 kilometres. The presence of the barge allows us this kind of ease that's uncommon on long-distance trails. Along the canal, we simply step off the barge directly onto the paths. On the lochs, the tender ferries us to and from the shores. Once aboard, one half of the barge is a communal space of couches, an honesty bar of local whiskies and craft beers, an extensive library and a large dining table for meals – from ox-cheek broth to Balmoral chicken stuffed with haggis – that we share with the crew. At Laggan Locks, at the head of Loch Lochy, the Caledonian Canal performs its greatest trick. So much of the canal was built beside rivers, but here it needed to cross a low hill that rose as a watershed within the Great Glen. It was the final section of the canal to be constructed – a two-kilometre-long hurdle – but it took 500 workers seven years to complete. Known today as Laggan Avenue, it's a section that's wasted on walkers, with the canal obscured by trees, so we remain aboard as the Fingal motors on from the locks. For half an hour, it feels more like an Amazon cruise than a Scottish walking trip, with a jungle-like strip of forest reaching down to and over the canal. 'This is totally different to any canal I've ever been on,' says skipper Adam Evans. 'It's my favourite part of the canal.' Soon, the canal widens again into Loch Oich and finally Loch Ness, Scotland's most famous body of water. Its dimensions are as monstrous as its myths – containing more water than all the lakes and rivers in England and Wales combined, it's up to 300 metres deep, giving it a sense of mystery that fuelled the legend of Nessie. We continue to use the water as a diving board into a host of trails – walks to waterfalls, over low hills, through blueberry-carpeted forests and eventually to the Caledonian Canal's end at the Moray Firth. In Loch Ness, we moor by a pier in Foyers, on the loch's quieter and wilder eastern side, where we've watched goats grazing at the water's edge and been circled by a sea eagle – the largest bird in the UK. But the best comes in the calm of dawn as I take my coffee up onto the deck of the barge. Less than 100 metres ahead of us, a stream pours into the loch through a green glow of forest. As I watch, two deer step out of the trees and into Loch Ness. As they dip their heads to drink, not a single other thing around the loch seems to move. Loading Far across the water, on the path proper for the GGW, there will be hikers now stirring, packing up tents or already on the move. But here, I'm in no hurry. We will soon sail towards Inverness and the trip's end but, for the moment, I have the most beautiful and natural of company. THE DETAILS WALK UTracks' seven-day Scotland Coast to Coast Rambler Walk and Barge trip begins in Fort William and finishes in Inverness, and includes all meals and accommodation on the Fingal of Caledonia. Prices start from $3690 per person. See RIDE The Great Glen Way is a walking track that can also be sped up into a cycling trip. Cyclists largely follow the same path as hikers, riding flat and fast along the towpaths and then inching along single track and fire roads higher up slopes above the lochs. The trail requires a mountain bike and can be comfortably cycled in three days, as per the itinerary on UTrack's self-guided Great Glen Cycleway trip, where nights are spent in Invergarry (42 kilometres from Fort William) and beside Loch Ness in Drumnadrochit (48 kilometres from Invergarry).
Otago Daily Times
18-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Bleak past shrouded by enveloping mist
It would be redundant to say the Scottish Highlands are beautiful. There is a sort of raw otherworldliness about the Highlands, with their towering mountains wreathed in mist, deep dark glens and silver lochs. The air is crisp with notes of pine and peat, and you can drive for miles without seeing a single living soul — save for the sheep. Glencoe is one of my favourite spots in the Highlands. A steep-sided valley on the west coast of Scotland, the glen cuts a dramatic path from the northeast near the village of Glencoe and Loch Leven, southwest towards Rannoch Moor, with the A82 road running through its length. Three towering, rugged mountains loom over the glen — Beinn Fhada, Gearr Aonach and Aonach Dubh, known collectively as the Three Sisters of Glencoe. Glencoe's dramatic landscape owes its origins to cataclysmic volcanic activity that took place some 400 million years ago. Later, Ice Age glaciers chiselled the glen into the striking forms we see today. According to local myth, the great Celtic warrior Fingal once called these highlands home. His son, Ossian, a bard and dreamer, is said to have drawn inspiration from the glen's wild beauty. I took my little sisters to Glencoe last September, along with my best friend Fidra. It was a moody, misty day, befitting a place so soaked in sorrow and memory. On February 13, 1692, a grisly massacre took place at Glencoe. Around 120 government soldiers led by Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon arrived in Glencoe and were hosted by the MacDonalds for nearly two weeks, breaking bread and sharing wine with them under the Highland code of hospitality. Then, early in the morning of the 13th, the soldiers turned on their hosts, and murdered 38 MacDonald men, women and children in their homes and in the bloody snow as they fled. The massacre began simultaneously at three settlements across the glen — Invercoe, Inverigan and Achnacon — but the MacDonalds were pursued over the glen and into the mountains, where many more of them perished from the elements. The slaughter had been ordered by John Dalrymple, Scottish Secretary of State, ostensibly as punishment for the MacDonalds' failure to swear allegiance to William of Orange by a government-imposed deadline. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, many Highland clans remained loyal to the deposed King James VII of Scotland (James II of England), and refused to recognise William III as their new sovereign. In response, the government issued a proclamation in August 1691 promising a royal pardon to any clan chiefs who swore allegiance to William before January 1, 1692. Anticipating defiance, the authorities prepared "letters of fire and sword" to authorise violent enforcement against those who failed to comply. Despite much initial hesitation, most clan leaders took the oath, after seeking relief from their earlier oaths to James Stuart, the deposed king in France. Chief MacIain of Glencoe delayed his submission until the final day of the deadline, December 31, 1691. But upon arriving at Fort William, MacDonald discovered there was no official present to record his oath, so he was forced to travel to Inveraray, where he finally swore loyalty on January 6. While this delay was accepted by local officials, Dalrymple was having none of it. The attack at Glencoe was part of a larger goal — to pacify the Highlands, suppress Jacobite sympathies and break the power of clans perceived as disloyal to the crown. The massacre at Glencoe shocked and horrified Scottish society, not only because of its brutality, but for the unmitigated betrayal of deeply held Highland values. Captain Campbell's personal involvement was particularly wounding — he was related by marriage to some of the MacDonalds. While the government brushed it aside after a brief inquiry and the resignation of John Dalrymple, the massacre helped galvanise support for the Jacobite cause in the decades that followed. Even today, Glencoe represents the wider suffering and betrayal of the Highlands — the historic Clachaig Inn in Glencoe bears a (tongue-in-cheek) reminder of this lasting bitterness with a sign on its door that reads: "No Campbells." (I doubt this rule is enforced, however). There have been some fascinating archaeological excavations at Glencoe. In 2018, a team from the National Trust for Scotland began surveying several areas of the glen related to the massacre, and in 2019, they focused on the settlement of Achadh Triachatain, at the far end of the glen. The archaeologists found evidence that the settlement had been rebuilt after 1692 and occupied until the Highland Clearances of the mid-18th century. In 2021 the National Trust completed a full-sized reconstruction of one of the buildings excavated at Achadh Triachatain using traditional techniques and materials. My sisters and I visited this building; it was sturdy, atmospheric and a welcome respite from the near-constant drizzle. Only last year, a team from the University of Glasgow discovered a bent plaid pin, musket balls, pottery and coins at what is believed to be the house of MacDonald of Achnacon, the head man of the village (who narrowly escaped with his life in 1692). Who knows what other treasures are hidden there beneath the grass of Glencoe? The ramifications of the Glencoe massacre have rippled through the centuries and will continue to do so. Glencoe is more than a beautiful place — it is a cautionary tale, a trope of fantasy literature, a warning, a legend, a nightmare for some. It is a place where beauty and history meet, and I can't wait to return. • Jean Balchin is an ODT columnist who has started a new life in Edinburgh.
Irish Times
13-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Residents near Dublin Airport to meet Minister for Transport over planning and environmental worries
Residents in the vicinity of Dublin Airport are to meet Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien to press their concerns around planning and environmental issues related to air traffic. Mr O'Brien has already met several aviation organisations and business groups and is due to continue engagements over the coming weeks. The Government is in favour of lifting Dublin's 32 million annual passenger cap and the Department of Transport is working on a new national aviation policy, which is expected by early 2026. [ Health cost of noise at Dublin Airport put at €800m Opens in new window ] The meeting on Wednesday with the St Margaret's The Ward Residents' Group is thought to be his first with community representatives. READ MORE 'We're all about proper planning and sustainability,' said its spokesman Liam O'Gradaigh. 'We want to make sure that the Minister is also wearing his Department of Environment and Climate hat – that he fully understands the health impacts associated with Fingal residents and east Meath and that he listens to us and that he follows proper planning.' New research suggests that noise levels at Dublin airport could have a health cost to residents living nearby. Video: Enda O'Dowd Mr O'Brien is also Minister for the Environment and many north county Dublin residents angered by developments at the country's main airport live in his Dublin Fingal East constituency. A spokesman for Mr O'Brien said the programme for government included a 'strong commitment' that relevant agencies would engage with communities affected by noise, flight movements and airport operations. The group will raise health concerns based on a report it commissioned from PMCA Economic Consulting, which claimed local aircraft noise brought a human 'health cost' of almost €800 million and causes cardiovascular issues for thousands. [ Living near Dublin Airport: 'The noise, it's overwhelming ... it penetrates through the whole house' Opens in new window ] They will appeal to Mr O'Brien's responsibilities in environmental policy and highlight a planning submission from airport operator DAA where modelling shows that raising the passenger cap from 32 million to 36 million people annually would increase CO₂ emissions by more than 276,000 tonnes in 2026. Other concerning issues on the group's agenda are its opposition to night-time flights, and the flight paths from the airport's second runway, which have caused considerable local disquiet since beginning three years ago. It will raise a planning submission from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to An Bord Pleanála that said it had assessed and approved instrument flight procedures (IFPs) relating to flight paths, but that this 'should not be confused with any suggestion that these specific IFPs were required by the IAA, or that the IAA thinks that they are the optimal flightpaths, whether from a safety perspective or otherwise'. About climate issues, the Minister's spokesman said the State strongly supports the policy objective of reducing aviation emissions. Measures would include aircraft technology and operations improvements, and the increased development of sustainable aviation fuels. In the Dáil last week, Mr O'Brien raised the issue of additional capacity at regional airports and said there was a need for an updated 10-year national aviation policy. The St Margaret's The Ward group believes it should have more involvement in its formulation. An update of the regional airports programme from 2026 to 2030 is also due. Mr O'Brien said that the current stay on Dublin's passenger cap, due to a related European Court of Justice case, will probably remain in place for most of 2026.
