Irish Plan Monte Carlo Near Dublin

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1021, 11 July 1930, Page 11

Irish Plan Monte Carlo Near Dublin

Application to Dail for Casino Licence

POWER FROM SHANNON

Ireland is to have a Monte Carlo of its own. Ambitious to give 1 Erin a larger share in attracting American and Continental visitors, the seaside resort of Bray, 12 miles from Dublin, has taken the lead by making application to the Dail for the establishment of a gambling casino of luxurious dimensions. The scheme is sponsored by a group of financiers. If Parliament approves the plan Ireland may become another centre of pleasure for the international crowd of fashion and wealth that now divides its time between the resorts on the Riviera and the Atlantic Coast in France. Hotel and Casino What is now a bare patch of land nearly a thousand feet above sea level will soon be a paradise of flowering gardens, fountains, lawns and houses. A plan to develop Bray Head at a cost of £60,000 has already been launched. The construction of an aerial railway to the sumimt of Bray Head has been approved and it will be begun at once. On the summit, near the top station of the ropeway, a first-class hotel is to be built. It will contain a swimming bath, squash racket courts, ballroom and theatre. But the greatest attraction will be the casino. Steps are being taken to secure the necessary permission from the Dail. Building will be proceeded with immediately in the hope that the licence will be obtained when completed. The old Shannon River, its romance somewhat dimmed of late years by the matter of fact concrete powerhouses and zooming transmission lines erected along its shores, will be linked with the scheme that is to make one corner of Erin into a fantasy of luxury aii4 pleasure. The Shannon will run the railway and supply the current for the elaborate illumination of the resort. The line will run from the footbridge overlooking Naylor’s bathing place at Eagle’s Nest on Bray Head. It. will be half a mile in length and will rise to a height of 200 feet. Provision has been made for a further extension of the railway along the top of the Head. The railway itself is to cost something in the neighbourhood of £20,000. Two carriers, each carrying 24 passengers, will be operated. The idea of developing the Head came from a local resident and the English company has a Lancashire Irishman at its head.