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LOCALS IN SOUTH Dublin are trying to save an area of land in the Dodder Valley Park which is earmarked to be cleared to make way for recreational facilities including a football pitch and running track.
Members of the Save Dodder Valley Park group said the area is of great ecological importance and is home to many animals, including some protected species such as buzzards, bats, hedgehogs and pine martens.
Fencing has been placed around the area, located in Firhouse along the River Dodder, in recent days and machinery is on site, prompting locals to stage a protest last Sunday.
Organisers said over 100 people attended the demonstration, and more than 500 people have signed a petition calling for the area to be protected.
“The bulldozers are there, we’re terrified we’ll just go down tomorrow or the next day and it will be destroyed,” Eimear Coffey, a member of the group, said.
The animals that are not killed by the bulldozers won’t survive much longer after that.
“It’s a huge concern, it’s the worst possible time of year for animals to try to find new habitats, it’s hibernation time, winter time is coming, it’s getting cold,” Coffey told TheJournal.ie.
Coffey said the group is not against the development of amenities in Dodder Valley Park but object to “the destruction of an incredibly important wildlife habitat and ecological haven”. She said existing pitches in the locality should be upgraded, or an alternative site for the development should be found.
Coffey said the area in question is “an extremely important habitat for a huge array of wildlife”.
She noted that it is home to animals such as rabbits, foxes, mice and badgers, as well as hedgehogs, pygmy shrews, and pine martens – all of which are protected under the Wildlife Act. Irish buzzards and a number of bat species, both of which are also protected, use the area as a feeding ground.
A public consultation process was held on the future of the area from July to September. Some of the submissions raised concerns about the destruction of the habitat but others were in favour of the project.
One woman wrote that she was a “big supporter” of the plan, stating: “We currently have no playspace within walking distance, along with many other families … this is a much needed addition to the community.”
Full assessment
A spokesperson for SDCC confirmed that works will “commence shortly” in the Mount Carmel section of the park.
The spokesperson said the project “was subject to a full statutory public consultation and a Part 8 planning process was passed by South Dublin County Council in 2017″.
“The project proposes to provide recreational facilities over a number of phases to support active recreation within the park; and also recognises the ecology within Dodder Valley,” they told TheJournal.ie.
The spokesperson said the current phase of the works is for a grass athletics track and grass playing pitch.
“The proposal for the track and pitch is within an area of the park that has been subject to intensive use by illegal scramblers, quad bikes and motorbikes in the past.
Aerial photos show the grassland area has been unfortunately disturbed quite significantly by this antisocial behaviour; though efforts by the Council in recent years to introduce some measure of activity into this area has resulted in increased passive surveillance in this part of the park, which in some cases displaces antisocial activity.
The spokesperson said the proposals for the area were appropriately assessed prior to being finalised, and that Environmental Impact Assessment Screening and an Ecological Impact Assessment were carried out.
“The plan was designed in consultation with the ecological consultants engaged for the project, which ensured sensitive species of flora and fauna are not impacted on,” they said.
The spokesperson added that though no lighting was proposed for the project, SDCC “undertook not to light the athletics track and pitch areas into the future as particular concerns were raised regarding future lighting in respect of bats and other nocturnal mammals”.
“Existing trees, hedges and the ecologically sensitive grasslands are being retained,” they added, noting that an ecologist “has been retained to advise on works, prior to and during the construction stage of the works”.
‘Another tragedy’
Despite what the council has said, Coffey stated that locals are “desperate to avoid another Tallaght wetlands tragedy”, adding: “We are begging the council to learn from that mistake and protect this incredible wild area.”
Last month there was outrage in Tallaght when part of a wetlands area in Sean Walsh Memorial Park was cleared.
SDCC had been working with the Herpetological Society of Ireland to survey and protect the area, but it was flattened during works by the council.
In a statement issued to TheJournal.ie last week, SDCC said: “As part of a planned process of removing built up silt and illegally dumped rubbish from the man-made lakes in Sean Walsh Park, South Dublin County Council carried out desilting works during the summer months.
The desilting and cleaning of the lakes is essential for improving the natural habitat of the park and for flood alleviation measures in the area.
SDCC said that while in excess of 40 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish was removed from the site, the drained silt was placed in mounds on an “uncultivated area of the park to the north of the wetlands in Sean Walsh Park”.
“The council has habitually used this area for depositing silt and last did so when carrying out works on the larger lake in 2018,” it said.
“Following these works in Sean Walsh Park, the silt mounds were levelled. The council will immediately review the practice of the disposal of silt drained from lakes. However, best practice dictates that the material removed is placed as close to the origin as possible.”
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They paved paradise, & put up a parking lot.
@Ann Experiment: Ah no…..goddam song be stuck in me head now
@Ann Experiment: Good job it’s not being paved, but flattened and seeded for grass.
@alan fairbrother: Monoculture all the way, nothing like a biodiversity dead zone to cheer up the day.
@Diarmuid Hunt: where do you propose the badly needed football pitch, running track and playground go if not on these “biodiverse” field of grass?
@Kev: have you heard about the calamitous decline in Biodiversity? We will all pay a very high price for ignoring our total loss of pollinators and native species..
A running track could be put elsewhere.
@Barry Foster: like where,? plus there is a lot of misinformation on this project. It’s not a running track like you see in a stadium. The waste ground is being leveled and being seeded for grass, which will be suitable for running on.
Brothers Pearse Athletics Club have been part of this community for over 60 years. In that time, we have trained thousands of young people in athletics, many of them going on to win national championships and represent Ireland. We have also run many Couch to 5k programmes, getting adults outside, fit, and active.
We need a safe, dedicated area for training. We have hundreds of juvenile members, and every year we have to turn away many more because we don’t have anywhere for them to train.
This development has been in planning for years. We had many discussions with the council about the club’s requirements, and spent ages looking for suitable locations. This location was subject to a full environmental impact study, and the development went out for public consultation ages ago. We’ve been waiting a long time for it to finally go ahead.
What is being created is a _grass_ track, not an artificial surface, and a clubhouse that will be shared with other community groups. It’s something the club desperately needs, and something that will help us to grow and contribute even more to the community we’re part of.
@Ray: well said Ray.
@Ray: If it is a grass track, then any flat piece of grass, for example around a football pitch, could be used. The clubhouse could be built easily beside said football pitch and used by athletes and footballers alike. It would also be cheaper and the cost saving could be put into the clubhouse thereby increasing the facilities in it. Or perhaps, the cost saving could be put into lighting, to allow for safer training in the winter evenings.
@Gerard McDermott: as I said, the clubhouse _is_ going to be shared with other groups, we’re way ahead of you. This is going to be a dedicated athletics facility, with marked lanes, and up to one hundred people using it at once. So no, we couldn’t just run around a pitch.
@Ray: But you want to “construct” a flat piece of ground to run around – that is a pitch. Why not use the purpose built track that already exists in Tallaght? Sure an agreement may have to be made with another group in order to use it, but tracks are expensive to maintain so the more involved in using it the easier it is to maintain. This is done in other parts of the city. There are many different athletic clubs that use Santry stadium for example.
@Gerard McDermott: Seriously? Why do GAA clubs have their own pitches, isn’t there a perfectly good one in Croke Park that they can all share?
Like many athletics clubs, we train on an artificial track once a week. Most of the clubs that use Tallaght track, Santry, and Irishtown tracks do the same, and do the great majority of their training in their immediate areas on grass. It isn’t possible for us all to train on an artificial track all the time, it isn’t healthy for developing kids (the surface is much harder), and it is neither practical nor environmentally friendly for hundreds of people to drive from Knocklyon to Tallaght several times a week instead of walking, jogging, or cycling to a local facility.
@Gerard McDermott: The area won’t have lighting because it is a bat conservation area.
@Ray: Then why not move it to the other side of the river (across the red bridge) which is already flattened and kept mown by the council. They are currently making three newly oriented pitches there and could easily accommodate the track on that side with some minor alterations. It would also be accessible to your team.
The current proposed area is where I and other people run (and it’s nice to have an uneven space to run in the area) and also pick blackberries etc and this will be impacted by greater human traffic and clearing to make yet another flattened plane. There are other options rather than this and close by.
@Jensen Bhroin: An uneven surface is not suitable for juvenile training.
Funnily enough, the protesting group suggested just yesterday that “somewhere else” should be in the Old Bawn area of the park. And then the people in Old Bawn pointed out that they have their own goals for the area and planned amenities, they are not just “somewhere else” for you to put the things you don’t want.
@Ray: I am from the Old Bawn/ Firhouse area so this is MY area. And I have looked at the plans for the development there and there is room in the upper half that is not being developed. I am talking about moving the development from an area of rich biodiversity and local use to a couple of hundred metres away, connected by a bridge. Uneven surfaces are not suitable for juvenile runners which is why I suggested pre-flattened areas as the current uneven surface is used by local runners like myself precisely because they are uneven. Taking something that is wanted by people because you want something else is the actual argument. We are talking about viable alternatives in the local area from an actual local.
@Jensen Bhroin: Consider for a moment that we have spent years on this project, looking at locations and in discussions with the council.
How likely do you think it is that you can come up with better locations off the top of your head?
There are a whole range of things we have to think about. The space needs to be big enough, it needs to be accessible, it needs to be safe for children to train in, it needs to be local to our members, it needs to be available (not already used by another group), it can’t be in a location that will cause problems for residents…. I could go on. The locations you suggest are not suitable.
@Ray: Then find another because this current space is a local amenity that cannot be constructed but is natural and appreciated for that fact. You are taking someone from other people in the area.
@Ray: A little look on google maps satallite image shows that you already have a piece of ground, lined out like an athletics track, all be it not exactly in the same shape (https://goo.gl/maps/5R4XLahM1RSba9PF6). Is this piece of ground not sufficient. The patch of ground to the west of your lined track contains two GAA pitches. I fail to see how your athletes are unable to run around this pitches. That space is big enough, it is right beside the small carpark, which has both road access and a bike path access. Its location, along side the Firhouse Road means it would be partially lit in the winter. What more do you want? The only thing missing is the clubhouse. If the council are prepared to build you a club house in the park, surely they could build one for you there.
@Gerard McDermott: @Gerard McDermott: no, that space is not sufficient. One, it is too small, as I said above we are turning kids away because we don’t have space. Two, it is behind a GAA pitch, which means it can’t be used when they are hurling. Three, the council have ruled out building a clubhouse there.
You know how I know all this? Because our first proposal to the council was to develop that area. You are not suggesting anything we hadn’t already considered.
@Ray: It’s almost like I know more about the situation than you can discover with five minutes on Google maps.
@Ray: well said ray. I’m actually apalled at the objections to this development. But there will always be people out there with their own agendas and flagrant disregard for others.
@Ray: The minimum area of two GAA pitches is just shy of 21000 sq. m. Are you seriously telling me that area (over two hectares), along with the area of ground that you use is not of sufficient size? Realistically, there would be more when you factor in areas from pitch to ditch etc. Your 400 members, if they all went to a training session together (unlikely they would), would have an area of about 60 sq. m each to train in. In other words, they would have the use of the equivalent of 50m of athletics track each. Telling me this area is too small for your needs is nonsense, and I don’t believe you for a minute. Fair enough, you can’t train when there is hurling on, well they can’t hurl all the time. So train when there is no hurling – problem solved.
@Ray: How much do you know about The EU Directive on the Conservation of Habitats, Flora and Fauna (92/43/EEC)?
@Kerrydone: Ray has an agenda, don’t forget. Otherwise he wouldn’t be so vociferous in his desire for the use of this piece of land. He wants the use of the land for the athletic club and obviously has only their interests in mind. He cares not for the animals and plants that live in the area. There are many places in this park to train that are managed without the need to destroy this small habitat.
@Ray: when you were having these discussions with the Council did you have any meetings with other park users to see what they wanted?
@Tinky Freeman: My suggestion was to use an already flat area and put up some lights for evening training in winter, so they wouldn’t be in the area currently under debate. Bats hibernate in winter anyway, so lights would be unlikely to affect them. The presence of these lights in Spring, Summer and Autumn would attract insects and could be of benefit to the bats, in terms of feeding etc. They could also be switched off from spring to autumn.
@Gerard McDermott: You think we can just train on the pitches?
First off, if they are marked for Gaelic they can’t also be marked for athletics.
But more seriously, the reason we can’t train on the pitches is because the pitches are in use.
Not 24 hours a day, that’s true. Maybe that’s why other commenters think the area is full of unused pitches.
But we, like the GAA, like most sports clubs can’t train 24 hours a day. During the week, we are limited to a couple of hours between kids and parents getting home and eating, and everyone having to be back home for the evening. On the weekend, we can’t start too early, and we can’t finish too late. There is quite a narrow range of training times available, and everyone uses the same times. That’s why the Gaelic club beside us has more than one pitch (6/7 I think), and the local football club has more than one pitch. They can’t just arrange it so that one team trains at 10am on Monday and the next team trains at 11am, and so on through the week.
If you become king of the world, you can decree that working hours, school hours, match times and training times will be staggered. In a stroke you will do away with rush hour, and as a happy side effect reduce the number of pitches and running tracks needed by sports clubs. But until that happy day dawns, we *can’t* just run on the Gaelic pitches.
@Gerard McDermott: I’m sure the people who carried out the environmental impact assessment for the council know more about the legislation than me.
@Gerard McDermott: pity you’re not a member of the running club we could have done with someone like you over the years. You seem to what the club needs, other locations the club should move to. That we never thought of.
@Tinky Freeman: First off, our members are also “other park users”. Most of our members live nearby.
Second, it’s the job of the council to weigh up competing interests. We didn’t get to march in, tell them what we wanted and that we expected it delivered yesterday. It took a lot of discussion and negotiation to reach this point. And one of the major considerations for the council was the environmental impact, which determined a lot of the parameters of the project.
@Ray: I see my local athletics club training on football pitches regularly. I see the athletics teams from local schools training on football pitches regularly. These are council operated pitches, that are used for both club and schools GAA matches and training sessions. They have the same problems that you mentioned, but they make it work.
@alan fairbrother: For a long time I was a member of an athletics club, just not Brothers. The club want/need more space, and I’m not opposed to that in particular. However, they just don’t need the space in question. That is a space for all members of the local community, including the resident animals.
@Gerard McDermott: if they are the teams from schools they may be training during school hours, or immediately after school hours, which is not when clubs train. Equally, our grass track will be available for the local schools to use during school hours, when we won’t be using it.
Or maybe Knocklyon is just different. But in Knocklyon at least, all the clubs train at approximately the same time. Most of the time, the Gaelic pitches are in use when we are training.
@Gerard McDermott: Are you for real, our training should be dictated by ballybodens match fixtures.
@Ray: Schools are training after school, not during school hours.
Interesting that you say “our grass track will be available for the local schools to use during school hours, when we won’t be using it.” What you have already, or may have in the future, is the use of lands in a public park. You do not own it and most likely never will. Therefore you have no right to refer to it as “our grass track”.
What would you do if another group was using “your grass track” for another activity before you get there? You would have to wait for them to finish, or go somewhere else. They would be breaking no laws.
@alan fairbrother: Should their match fixtures be dictated by your training times? They have their own pitch, why can’t they use it while you are training? Perhaps you could train on their pitch while they play on yours. There are lots of solutions to your problem. Less sarcasm and more creative thinking is what’s need here.
@Gerard McDermott: We do need the space,and the space will be open to the public, it will not locked up behind a big fence. It seems like you don’t Know much about this project and are just making stuff up. You certainly don’t know the needs of our club or the issues we have in our current spot.
@alan fairbrother: The space is already open to the public and you won’t be allowed to lock it up behind a big fence. The needs of your athletics club is the same as the needs of all the others – you need a place to train.
@Gerard McDermott: You are really clueless. All clubs pay rent to use council land. And yes if this “other” group are there a club will be within their right to ask them to move. But are welcome to use it when its not it use. Just like if you kicking a ball on with a group on one of the pitches an the club who use it come along theyd ask you to move.
@alan fairbrother: I didn’t realise that clubs pay rent to the council, but as I’m not involved in any club how would I know. However calling me “really clueless” says an awful lot more about you as a person than about me. You could have left the first sentence out, but you chose not to.
Does calling other people names makes you feel like a big important man?
I sincerely hope that you are not involved in a coaching role with children. I would feel sorry for the child that can’t do something the first time under your coaching.
@Gerard McDermott: I thought you knew the area. You were great with the Google maps. Our current area is 3ft from the back of one of ballybodens goals. That’s why we have been looking for somewhere new and we are delighted the council have given us a new location. And all planning regulations were gone through it’s why it’s taken so long to get where we are.
@Gerard McDermott: You seem very opinionated on something you don’t know a lot about.
@alan fairbrother: I am allowed to have an opinion, as are you. I never said I was from the area.
@Gerard McDermott: But you seem to be able tells what our needs are and this spot isn’t the right the place.
@alan fairbrother: What you need, is extra space to train in. I have acknowledged that already and explain that I actually have no issue with that.
I do fail to see why you need to have a lined track. I’ve never seen, or heard of, another athletics club using one in a public park before. I’m not saying that clubs don’t, but I’ve never seen/heard of it. Other clubs make do with any open patch of maintained grass. When I was running, we train in four different places, all were flat and well maintained grass areas.
Where I am now, the GAA team let the local athletics club use their gym, from what I hear its for free but I am involved in neither, so can’t be sure. They even train together – the GAA club members doing their fitness session with middle/long distance runners from the athletics club. Maybe my local clubs are more agreeable than yours. Maybe they see the benefit of cooperation. Maybe the GAA club take pity on the Athletics club, who have no space to train in and no money to buy their own space, like most athletics clubs. I would say your club is no different.
@Gerard McDermott: Well now you have and has been for over 40yrs. But then a link road went through the area the club was using forcing closer to the back of goals used by ballyboden.. So there is a lot of comments by people who have no idea what the project entails, or the needs of the club.
@alan fairbrother: I think that people care that a “wild” part of the park is being removed, from all park users, but more importantly, from the wildlife that exits there. Perhaps they feel that the needs of nature is greater than the needs of the club.
Progress must be made in a developing nation but not at any cost. Some thick-headed bureaucrat signing this off and then digging their heals in.
@Shakka1244: The members of the running club who will move up the park from their usual spot to this new area are delighted with this.
@alan fairbrother: And many of us other locals who use it to run, walk and pick blackberries aren’t delighted. It’s one of the only sections of the park that isn’t paved or flattened to walk, run or bring your dog along. Walking and running tarmac trails constantly isn’t stimulating and neither is repetitive track running unless you happen to be part of a club.
@Jensen Bhroin: And the club is getting this spot. It will be a better surface than the current area the club uses. There will be no longer the risk of the kids getting hit by footballs or sliothers, while ballyboden are playing matches, while the kids are training.
Once again South Dublin County Council flagrantly disregard the local community. Similar to their plans for the Hellfire Club, this is over-development that is neither wanted nor needed. The area in question is hugely important for bio-diversity and is unique in an increasingly built up part of the City. The proposed football pitches can be put anywhere. If you agree please sign the petition here : http://chng.it/SCykys8t
@Ruth Brady: There are over 400 members of the local community in Brothers Pearse, but you are flagrantly disregarding them
@Ray: And there are far more than 400 people locally that use that area and enjoy it as is.
Knocklyon is even a different postcode from Firhouse and the rest of Tallaght!
Could the children not play in the area as itis like we all used to do when we where small. If they get a few scrapes so what
@Alan Kiely: Few scrapes?
Compo culture.
@Chin Feeyin: That stretch of the Dodder isn’t really a kids play area and is across a busy road to reach it. It’s used by walkers (including families), runners (like myself) and dog walkers. I pass a couple of dozen of not more people Everytime I go for a run there depending on how long of a run I go on.
There is a nearby playground in Parklands but that area of the park that we want to protect would be a bit more secluded and not ideal for kids to be by themselves a lot of the time.
The other side of the river (but not down by the river as that is darker and more secluded) is more open and estates open up to it.
They are replacing a field with a playground, these nimby dog walkers still have the whole park to themselves.
The greed in leafy south Dublin knows no bounds.
Kids in firhouse deserve a play space, knocklyon dog walkers should be ignored.
@Kev: Incorrect. The playground is to be located elsewhere.
@Ruth Brady: leafy south Dublin… You know this part of the Dodder is Tallaght right? Dublin 24. I come from a Council Estate up the road. My estate has no playground despite having a Green and waiting 30 years. There is one in Parklands nearby to Firhouse though that is accessible to ppl from Knocklyon as well. But neither are Knocklyon.
What they want to build here is a flat grass running track and related facilities in one of the few unleveled areas locally that me and many others enjoy. Kids in Firhouse have the Parklands playground in Ballycragh park currently and I think another in one of the other available flattened green spaces would be great. But it doesn’t need to be in this one specific and special habitat.
You know what is great for kids? Picking blackberries and nature watching. You can do that here. It’s not just an empty space.
@Ruth Brady: funny how the incorrect part isnt related to the fact this is a field and you are a selfish dog walker.
Your biodiversity rubbish is debunked by the council studies of the field in question. Dodder Valley will remain a champion of biodiversity long after the community gets the facilities it so desperately needs. Meanwhile you dog walkers will be grand as per usual, with countless fields, forests and paths locally to walk in.
I think Knocklyon is full of the biggest load of nimbys in Dublin.
I’ve been a part of this club and all they have is a little shopping container in cherry field to store equipment. Now given how many people they have trained and their commitment to building a community in Knocklyon is it not fair that they should have a space to properly train young people and adults? They’ve gone through the proper legalities and consultations for it. The people trying to stop it haven’t. The park will not be ruined, a tiny field that is hardly used except by kids scramblers will be converted into a space that the whole community can enjoy.
There are no amenities in Knocklyon because the residents stubbornly refuse to improve their area at all. A shame, only themselves to blame.
@Cian Rynne: This section of the park isnt in Knocklyon. It’s up the road in the Firhouse/Old Bawn area and there are suggestions for other places it can go. This space is enjoyed by people. I run there all the time and see people walking along. A flattened track isn’t enjoyed by all but by specific people who are training not enjoying the actual route. So much of the dodder is tarmaced or flattened and is not as wild and lovely to walk along as that small stretch.
You say that the ppl have gone through the proper channels and others haven’t. I didn’t hear about this until the protests and I live up the road and am definitely not in favour of it being built on this site. I will however wholly support it being built on a more appropriate site but that section of the dodder is beautiful and should be maintained
@Jensen Bhroin: Where are these magic areas the club can go to. Firhouse FC lost a pitch to build a school. Knocklyon utd nearly lost their pitches. So please tell us where these sites we have missed, that could move to.
There is no money to be made on animal habitat. This government and local authority don’t care about anything only revenue . You can see now the poor quality high density building again.we are were we were before the last crash. We deserve what we get. FF and FG they are one and the same.
@Leo Lalor: did you read the article?
There is no need for this ecosystem to be destroyed. Another area of the park would be far better. Why the need, to build, build, build on nature. There are plenty of unused pitches in the park.
@Tinky Freeman: There aren’t any unused pitches in the park. There aren’t any unused pitches in the area.
I can fully understand that, if you are not a member of a football club, or a GAA club, or a rugby club, you aren’t going to know which pitches that club uses. Equally, if you’re not a member of an athletics club, I wouldn’t expect you to know much about what that club does. Why should you?
But before stating so confidently that there are loads of unused pitches, you should reflect for a moment, and consider that you don’t know what you’re talking about. The people protesting this amenity always say it should be developed “somewhere else”, and it seems obvious and simple only because they haven’t actually investigated where that “somewhere else” would be.
@Ray: what about the area across the river that is currently under development. The upper section that opens onto the Glenview road? What about the grassland opposite the crossroads by Morton’s? What about up by Firhouse community centre? You are in favour of destroying one of the only non flattened trail sections in the area for running for yet another flattened track. Other runners use that area besides club runners and numerous locals use it to walk
@Jensen Bhroin: Consider for a moment that we have spent years on this project, looking at locations and in discussions with the council.
How likely do you think it is that you can come up with better locations off the top of your head?
There are a whole range of things we have to think about. The space needs to be big enough, it needs to be accessible, it needs to be safe for children to train in, it needs to be local to our members, it needs to be available (not already used by another group), it can’t be in a location that will cause problems for residents…. I could go on. The locations you suggest are not suitable.
@Ray: I think it’s very likely as I live in the area, know that particular area like the back of my hand, and have something I want to protect for myself and the people who live beside it rather than in Knocklyon. The place you are suggesting is not suitable because it is the only area of it’s kind in the vicinity. It is one of the only spaces of it’s type locally. The ones I have suggested are all suitable, especially across the river which is safe for children training, has lighting, is just as accessible to your members as the current site as there is a bridge connection 200m from the carpark there, is of a larger perimeter than the area currently being considered and will be adjacent to a newly constructed carpark and changing facilities already being built on the Old Bawn road side next to the power station thereby also reducing the building and visual disturbance of the landscape.
Just because you have been planning it for years doesn’t mean all opportunities have been adequately considered. If you get what you want you will genuinely be destroying something beautiful rather than
finding a compromise that doesn’t destroy a habitat and already utilised public area.
@Jensen Bhroin: The car park and pavillion in Old Bawn are being built for the use of the GAA club and football club based there, who have pitches, and to support the play area and play trail being built there. It is not free space, there is nowhere left to put a track. Plus, we are a Knocklyon/Firhouse club, that’s where our members live, not Old Bawn.
Again, you have been thinking about this for five minutes, we have been thinking about this for five years.
@Ray: I am from Firhouse/Oldbawn (Specifically the Firhouse/Bohernabreena constituency but right at the Nexus of both the Firhouse and Old Bawn area). And there is room. I have looked at the plan, even if it requires adjustments. Which can be done, if there is a will.
The entire design of the plan in that section of the park included that the facilities were to be available to be utilised by other clubs (maybe you should read that plan?) And it will include three newly oriented pitches and a junior pitch as well as moving the tennis court over. But at this early stage of construction the building could be expanded to include additional space (if that is a concern) rather than destroy like I said an already utilised space.
You keep saying how you want it but don’t answer the real criticisms from people who are using this unique space daily and who will lose it. As you said above, it is ‘not free space’ just because it wasn’t zoned for construction and you are seeking to destroy that whether you want to admit it or not.
@Jensen Bhroin: There is no room for three pitches, a junior pitch, and a running track in that space, and there is no reason why an athletics club based in Knocklyon/Firhouse should move to Old Bawn.
You might like to think there is, because you just want to say,”See! Somewhere Else!”, but I have to think about how a space will be used, how safe it will be, how people will get there…
@Ray: so Ray just go out and destroy a unique biodiversity? There are pitches in the Oldbawn area. There is no need for a pitch this end. People from Knocklyon will drive to this part of the park not walk. And yes there are plenty of runners in these fields already. There is plenty of space on the Oldbawn side. What club needs a pitch here anyway?
@Ray: my son is member of sports clubs and I am on the committee of one. If the club’s organised themselves between themselves they could easily accommodate themselves much like Bushy where GAA and football clubs share pitches.
@Tinky Freeman: “somewhere else” again. The people in Old Bawn might not appreciate you volunteering their space, if they even had any.
@Jensen Bhroin: so all the years we have been looking for some where better. We weren’t looking hard enough. Where would suggest.
@Jensen Bhroin: What grass land opposite Morton’s are you referring to.
The thing about #firhouse #doddervalley is that, it is a natural wasteland open to all, I don’t just mean to runners or dogwalksrs or foragers but to all, and that includes foxes, badgers, rabbits, flowers, insects and so on, #doddervalley #firhouse is a unique sanctuary in South Dublin.
It upsets me that people like ‘Ray’ only see the end of their nose, and not the full picture, and it upsets me that supposed progressive political parties who speak of #biodiversity and our environment are blind to the destruction of this unique rest space.
There are numerous playing pitches in the Firhouse / Oldbawn locality and none are used, these surely are existing areas that athletic clubs in Knocklyon could use but choose not to, for whatever reasons…
Mant residents of Firhouse are devasted that this space is to be taken from us, when all is needed are some trees and bins and benches that @sdublincoco have refused. The current state of this area is down to said council for years, taking no interest in the loved area.
What will happen is an injustice to our wild friends who have very little space left in South County Dublin, I say let them own it…
@James Michael Mackin: If they are devastated why didn’t they take part in the planning process, and not wait until the work commences.
@Gerard McDermott: no, that space is not sufficient. One, it is too small, as I said above we are turning kids away because we don’t have space. Two, it is behind a GAA pitch, which means it can’t be used when they are hurling. Three, the council have ruled out building a clubhouse there.
You know how I know all this? Because our first proposal to the council was to develop that area. You are not suggesting anything we hadn’t already considered.
The only result of this sorry protest will be disdain towards this dog walkers association & their fake environmental front. I regularly see them break SDCC by-laws on leashes so will be reporting them from now on.
have your say