First of towers in Ballymun set to bite the dust tomorrow

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will be on hand to see a specially positioned "super long reach" crane bite into the 15-storey Patrick Pearse Tower in Ballymun, north Dublin, tomorrow at midday.

Instead of using a ball and chain, Ballymun Regeneration Ltd (BRL), the company overseeing the regeneration of the town, has opted to take the tower down in "bite size" chunks, each bite being just about the size of a briefcase.

Thousands of people are expected to witness the start of the demolition, officially ending the State's purpose-built high-rise one-time housing solution.

In a message to the people of Ballymun the Taoiseach described the current regeneration programme as a unique project which will result in 1,000 families getting new homes before the end of the year.

More than 500 families have already be rehoused.

Mr Ahern, writing in the Ballymun Concrete News, said construction of two neighbourhood centres was also under way to provide shops and community meeting rooms, and planning permission had been granted to replace the shopping centre.

The demolition of the first tower blocks "will be a highly visible symbol of the extent of change occurring in the regeneration programme," he said.

But some local community councils have criticised the continued use of the old Ballymun Health Centre while a new, purpose-built, €50 million centre remains vacant.

Safety aspects of the building work have also been criticised, and some residents have spoken of a "growing privatisation" resulting in fears of dwindling social welfare supports typified by the ending of the FÁS community employment schemes.

The demolition of the first of the towers will be marked by a wake at the base of the McDonagh Tower tonight.

About 1,500 people are expected to gather around teatime for an evening of story-telling, poetry and music to celebrate and remember the State's first attempt at building high-rise communities.

Ballymun's new Axis Centre is to act as curator.

"It is not a festival, it is a wake. It is to remember the history as well as the sadness of life here. It is a letting go.

"The residents of the towers will tell their own stories," the centre's artistic director, Mr Ray Yeates, told The Irish Times yesterday.