Sale of School Lands vs DLR Council Sports Facilities Strategy

Contradicting many of the Government’s objectives and highlighting an unacceptable development strategy lacking in forward planning and joined-up thinking from the Department of Education and Skills, Department of Housing and DLR Council.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, one of Ireland’s fastest growing council areas, is running out of space for sports and recreational facilities and is now being forced to rethink how it provides such facilities.

According to the council: “It is constrained in terms of the freedom to develop new facilities by being the most densely populated area outside Dublin City Centre and with (extremely high) land values that are a barrier to private or club-based facility development." If the problem can't be sorted out then costs to rent and maintain sports facilities would top more than €1 million a year.

The Council is now developing a joint strategy with sports clubs and schools to maximise the use of existing - and development of new - sporting and physical activity facilities within the county as their pressure on individual clubs to cater for an ever growing population is challenging.

In a report titled 'Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Sports Facilities Strategy', the local authority said: “As part of this strategy we wish to restate our commitment in this area. Our aim is to provide facilities that are well maintained, sufficient in number and accessible to as many local people as possible.

"We will do this through the relationships we have with local sporting clubs, regional and national sporting organisations, schools and community groups.
“Of the 196 pitches, 78 (40%) are owned by educational bodies, reflecting the significant role schools and colleges play in the overall provision of all sports categories.”
“As part of the long term development of sporting facilities for the people of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown it is imperative that future opportunities be explored to develop joint owned, joint managed facilities between schools, clubs and the Council.”

How is this possible when schools in DLR like Our Lady's Grove, Goatstown and Clonkeen College, Deansgrange have every inch of land and sport facilities sold to build housing. If we sell the land around our schools and the sports grounds our children play on, how can we accommodate the increasing population in an already densely populated area?

While no one denies that the housing crisis in Dublin is one of our most urgent policy priorities, it is equally clear that building houses without the infrastructure to support them is an absolutely unacceptable development strategy, and can only lead to more extreme social and economic costs down the line.

Our Lady's Grove is one of the last schools in the area that has any sports grounds or land suitable for expansion. It is one of the few public primary schools and the only non fee-paying girls secondary school in our rapidly expanding community. Many housing developments have been planned and completed (including the large scale fast tracked development planned for Dundrum Central Mental Hospital).

If this land is saved for expansion to keep up with the demand for places and provide sporting facilities, our entire community and DLR Council could benefit. St Benildus College is a Catholic boys' secondary school located in Kilmacud, which hires out its pitches. It offers several soccer, gaelic football and hurling pitches as well as an indoor sports hall for hire, and all in huge demand.

One of OLG Parents, Tomas Jones, said: “As someone involved in under age coaching at Kilmacud Crokes I am acutely aware of the weekly challenges in securing pitches and I’m sure many other local sports organisations have similar issues. Is it not a basic right that we should try and ensure that every child that goes to School has adequate play and outdoor area?”

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Join the fight! We need to put a stop to the sale of land around our schools!

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Continue to engage with all DLR Councillors, T.D.'s and the Minister for Education on this urgent issue for our school and indeed all schools in DLR and beyond.

Sources:
http://www.dlrcoco.ie/sites/default/files/atoms/files/draftdlrsportsfacilitiesstrategydecember6th_to_clubforum.pdf
http://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/dun-laoghaire-rathdown-running-out-12352188