Is the long-waged campaign to preserve and landscape Waterford's quays as the city's finest urban feature really a lost cause?
In spite of An Bord Pleanala's decision eight months ago to allow Bus Eireann to construct a new bus station on the quays, there have been signs of renewed concern among civic and commercial figures that this development could be a major mistake for the city.
The vision that the mile-long quay could be rehabilitated as a striking, landscaped civic amenity unrivalled in Europe has been brought more sharply into focus since the Tour de France passed through the city in July.
The clean-up works carried out in the run-up to the Tour have exposed more clearly the quays' enormous potential. Various unsightly sheds and old port structures were demolished, quayside premises were repainted and refurbished, and the extent and scale of the waterfront amenity has become strongly evident.
The city marina has been extended, and scores of yachts are moored at the riverside; Waterford flags flutter proudly along the quays, and there is a new sense of urban identity and pride.
It is ironic that the quays' potential has begun to be demonstrated only after the formal planning battle against the bus station project was defeated.
It has also become clear that an integrated development of the quays as an open-plan esplanade for pedestrians would require a downscaling of their car park usage, and the eventual removal of a prominent petrol station and various other residual structures. The removal of all inappropriate structures, however, would open up an unmatched sweep of river frontage and give the city a new visual character.
The Save the Quays Association, set up by a group of planners, architects, hoteliers and business people to promote the unified development of the quays as an outstanding architectural feature has been more or less moribund since the bus station decision by An Bord Pleanala seemed to close the issue.
But its chairwoman, Ann Harpur, an architect, says she still feels as passionate as ever on the matter, and because much of the quayside clutter has been cleared, "the number of people taking an active interest now is amazing". Eireann but the debate goes on. Recently, a former Waterford mayor, Mr Tom Cunningham, revived the vision that had been shared by those who joined the SQA campaign. In a debate on the local station, WLR FM, with Bus Eireann's regional manager, Mr Pat Crowley, he called on Bus Eireann "as a corporate body to take a decision for the long-term benefit of the community" and to revise its bus station plan.
"We have seen the benefits of the removal of sheds on the quay. It looks fantastic. The whole city is there. I want Bus Eireann to share in the spirit that's abroad in the community in Waterford at the moment and not force the community to accommodate a commercial decision that they are about to take," he said.
"I am saying we do not need another building on the quay. I honestly believe that this is about the next 100 years in Waterford."
But Mr Crowley said the bus station had been debated for over seven years and at many meetings, and Bus Eireann could not stand back now that the decision had been made.
"What we intend putting there is not a monster," he said. "It will be a very attractively laid out bus station . . . Eireann and for Waterford. We carry 1.5 million people a year through Waterford. The travelling public will have the benefit of a central bus station."
Tenders are out seeking architects, engineers and a quantity surveyor to proceed with the work. It would seem that only a mass public clamour, equalling that which emerged in Dublin over Wood Quay, can provide any hope of realising the vision of Waterford's quays being restored to the status they were once accorded as "the noblest quay in Europe."