Ballymun towers and Jack Lynch Tunnel among ‘iconic’ projects

Ballymun towers, the Phoenix Park's Papal Cross and the Jack Lynch Tunnel are among 80 developments chosen as "iconic" projects to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Construction Industry Federation.

The projects date from the 1930s on, and include Cork City Hall and Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Mosney, from the 1930s and 1940s, and Galway Cathedral and the American Embassy in Ballsbridge, from the 1940s and 1950s.

From the 1960s and 1970s, the Central Bank on Dame Street, Dublin is included, and Turlough Hill hydro-electric power station, in Wicklow is on the 1980s list.

Among developments highlighted for the 1990s are Croke Park stadium and the Galway Racecourse millennium stand.

Adamstown, in West Dublin, the Wexford Opera House and the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge were among those listed since 2000.

The full list of 80 iconic projects is included in industry publication, Construction Magazine.

The developments were chosen by magazine editor Brian Foley on the basis they were “innovative, iconic, award winning, the first of their kind or infrastructurally critical”.

Tom Parlon, director general of the federation, said the organisation was set up during a time when Ireland was in deep economic recession, in 1935.

He said the wealth of innovative buildings and infrastructure the industry has constructed over the past 80 years was a testament to its resilience.