Clontarf's seawater baths are set to reopen to the public six weeks from now with a brand new café bar and restaurant following a €2 million refurbishment project.
The Irish Times reports that president of the Circuit Court Mr. Justice Raymond Groarke granted Clontarf Baths and Assembly Rooms Company a declaratory order that means when the development is completed in accordance with planning permission, it will automatically receive a seven day drinks licence.
The court was told by Barrister Dorothy Collins that the refurbishment of the baths was almost finished and the revamped facility would be open by mid-September at the latest.
David Cullen, co-director of the company that owns the baths, stated that seawater baths that had existed on the site since the late nineteenth century had been completely reconstructed and that, like their predecessors, the refurbished baths would use water from Dublin Bay.
The water in the open-air pool will be kept at natural environmental temperatures, although there will be a water-heating facility on site. The water will also be kept clean by a sluice pump that filters the seawater that enters the pool. Work on the project commenced last September following a single objection by a local resident, which was dismissed by An Bord Pleanála.
