A new council sports forum looks to press schools and such to share their facilities

There is a full-sized soccer pitch in the War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, owned by the Office of Public Works, that only one team can use.

There’s a big astro in the Liberties, part-funded by Dublin City Council, which is used only by schools during school hours.

These are the kinds of underused facilities around the city – often found in schools and colleges – that should be opened up to more clubs and groups, say Dublin city councillors and council officials.

And this, they say, is to be the main focus of a city-wide sports forum, and five local sports fora, that have just been set up.

“Schools opening their grounds is one of the core purposes of the forums,” says Carmel O’Callaghan, a sports implementation officer with Dublin City Council.

The council is already in talks with some schools and is working on a template for how shared access would work, she said at a Central Area Committee meeting on Tuesday.

Councillors and council officials are excited by the possibilities of the new sports fora, says Social Democrats Councillor Daniel Ennis, who is chairing the citywide forum.

It is an opportunity to bring together organisations that were not previously linked, he says. “We really need to hit the ground running on this.”

Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty, who chairs the Community, Gaeilge, Sport, Arts and Culture Committee, says the council is to audit what sports facilities there are across the city – including for running clubs, yoga and other minority sports.

“How do we unlock doors and open up spaces?” he says. “All we can do is ask nicely.”

Moriarty says that the council should not fund sports facilities in future unless the owner is willing to open them up to others in the community when they are not using them.

So close

There’s both a GAA pitch and a big soccer pitch at the War Memorial Gardens, which are run and managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW).

The OPW only lets one club use the soccer pitch though, and has knocked back requests from others, according to a spokesperson.

Usher Celtic has a lease for the soccer pitch, says the OPW spokesperson, and its lease stipulates that it “shall not at any time” share the pitch with anyone else.

“Given the legalities of this arrangement, we are unable to accommodate any additional use of the pitches other than what is outlined in Ushers Celtic lease,” they said.

“The OPW has been contacted by teams directly who have requested access to the pitch occupied by Usher Celtic, and they have been advised of these legal terms,” said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson has not yet responded to a query as to what barriers are preventing the OPW from changing the lease and allowing other clubs to use the pitch.

The spokesperson did not respond to a query as to whether more GAA clubs could use the GAA pitch than do currently.

A new sports fora

The new sports forum for Dublin city launched last month is to keep watch over progress on the council’s sports plan, which has 85 action points.

The forum is made up of councillors and council officials from the sports, parks and active travel departments, and managers of leisure centres. It also includes representatives from the Football Association of Ireland, GAA, and the Education and Training Boards.

The purpose is “to provide a local platform, for collaboration, consultation and coordination on sport and physical activity”, said O’Callaghan, at Tuesday’s meeting.

As well as sharing more facilities, another core objective is to increase female participation in sports, she said.

“How do we know when we are putting in sporting infrastructure that we are doing it in a way that encourages particularly young girls but also women to fully participate and engage?” asked Green Party Councillor Janet Horner.

O’Callaghan said that the council is collaborating with Trinity College Dublin to carry out research into why girls leave sport.

The objective is to encourage all forms of activity, including minority sports, she said. “It’s not so easy to get to the people who go for the odd walk and the odd swim.”

Local fora are all being set up this month and will meet quarterly, she said.

Independent Councillor Nial Ring said that the council should ensure it protects existing sports infrastructure as well.

At the South Central Area meeting on Wednesday, councillors for that part of the city criticised the council for taking out an astro surface for a pitch in Cherry Orchard, and replacing it with tarmac.

Untapped potential?

Last year, Moriarty, the Labour councillor, pointed to a full-sized astro pitch in the Liberties – belonging to CBS James’s Street – which was closed to local sports clubs.

Moriarty says he tried to chase up getting more access, but hasn’t been able to sort it. All he can do is ask, he says.

In the meantime, a philanthropic organisation, the Mediolanum Philanthropic Collective – part of the Irish-arm of an Italian banking group – has announced that it will fund a pitch at St James’s Primary School on Basin Lane where local sports clubs can play.

Moriarty welcomed that initiative. But it’s crazy that this organisation has to pay to fund a pitch when the council part-funded one already nearby, he said.

At the Central Area Committee meeting, Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam said that one of the reasons schools don’t agree to open up pitches and courts is insurance.

“Schools’ boards of management are unwilling and are terrified of insurance costs going up,” he said.

The council has funded sports facilities at Larkin Community College in the north inner-city too, he said.

He said he hopes the involvement of the education and training boards on the forum helps get colleges on board with sharing facilities, he said.

Independent Councillor Christy Burke said that schools and colleges have pitches and courts that are closed at the weekends. That’s when the clubs need them, he said.

“We need to encourage youth who have spare time at the weekends to get involved and get engaged, and it does take them away from other dark activities,” he says.

One incentive could be, indirectly, more money.

At the meeting, O’Callaghan said that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has announced new grants.

They’re going to run workshops for clubs, she said. “Give them as much help as we can to make applications for grants.”

The council can help owners of sports facilities to apply for funding for upgrades, says Ennis, and in exchange, owners might agree to open up their facilities to more of the city.

O’Callaghan said that the council is in talks with a few schools. A small number are opening up their sports facilities on an informal trial basis, she says, which they hope to learn from.

She hopes they can work together to address concerns about insurance, she said. “We want to come up with a template, or a letter of comfort, so that they are happy and we’re happy, for them to proceed.”

The future of sport is changing, and sharing is the way forward, she said. “We’re trying to ensure that spare hours in any club are used by other clubs and shared facilities has to be the way.”