Video: Croker to offer bird's eye tours
Norwegian balancing artist Eskil Ronningsbakken on the roof of Croke Park yesterday during a promotion for phone network '3'. Picture: Colin Keegan
Friday May 14 2010
THE GAA is to offer rooftop walking tours of Dublin's Croke Park from early next year which will offer visitors panoramic views over the capital.
A walkway will be built on the roof of the stadium and tours will be offered from next January, costing in the region of €100.
Based on the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, the walkway will be 35 metres above ground.
It will give visitors a bird's eye view of the capital, with uninterrupted 360 degree views of Dublin Bay, the mountains, the Spire on O'Connell Street, the Obelisk in the Phoenix Park and Liberty Hall.
The plan was announced yesterday morning as daredevil Eskil Ronningsbakken balanced on a giant, wire figure '3' some 60 metres above the ground to advertise a mobile phone company's new branding slogan "Do things you never thought possible".
He appeared at the home of the GAA to help advertise the new rooftop walking tours of Croke Park.
Around 80,000 people a year already visit the Croke Park museum, and the rooftop tours are expected to swell numbers. The GAA will shortly begin building the walkway, with a view to opening it next January.
"The walkway will be around the entire stadium, and it will take about four hours to complete the tour," a spokesman said.
"There's fairly stringent safety measures, so they have to be gone through, which will take about 30 minutes. The tour itself will be about an hour, and then two-and-a-half hours for the history of Croke Park.
"They will have to make sure people are fit and able to do it," the spokesman said. "There will be five platforms with views of Dublin and one pitchside viewing platform.
"It's the first stadium in the world to have such a tour and is modelled on the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. The tours could be under €100, but the fee has yet to be decided and will be based on construction costs, safety equipment and the cost of stewards."
- Paul Melia
Irish Independent
