COULD NOT BE OPENED FOR FOUR YEARS BECAUSE OF LOST REMOTE CONTROL
The Seán O’Casey Bridge is a very useful, for me and many others, pedestrian swing-bridge spanning the River Liffey. It connects City Quay in the Grand Canal Docks area and North Wall Quay as well as the IFSC.
The bridge was opened by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in July 2005. It is named after the playwright and Irish Citizen Army member Seán O’Casey (1880–1964) who lived in the North Wall area of the city.
It is often the case when I am out photographing a local decided to provide me with some important information relating to what I am currently photographing. When photographing the area near the Sean O’Casey Bridge, a few weeks ago, I was told that it was no longer possible to open the bridge because the remote control had been lost. I must admit that I did not believe the claim but when I checked I discovered that the story was more-or-less true.
The Seán O’Casey Bridge, which has been unable to open to shipping for many years, was finally re-opened in 2014 after experts created a new remote control for the structure. A new remote control had to be created at a cost of cost of about €1,800 as it had been impossible to open the bridge as the original had been lost. Of course the story was a bit more complicated than described here.
Designed by architect Cyril O’Neill and O’Connor Sutton Cronin Consulting Engineers (for which they won an Institution of Structural Engineers Award for Pedestrian Bridges in 2006), the bridge was built in 2005 as part of a large-scale urban renewal scheme under the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to link the north and south quays and rejuvenate both. The swing bridge spans approximately 100 metres and has two balanced cantilever arms that swing open to permit boats to pass up river. As already mentioned above, in 2010 the remote control that operates the swing bridge was misplaced, and the bridge was unable to be opened until the control system was acquired in 2014.
The bridge was opened by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in July 2005. It is named after the playwright and Irish Citizen Army member Seán O’Casey (1880–1964) who lived in the North Wall area of the city.
