Council plans changes at Sandymount Green

Dublin City Council is getting ready to seek approval to make Sandymount Green more accessible for pedestrians, council officials told the South East Area Committee on Monday.

The scheme could see wider footpaths, a one-way street, improved crossings and bike parking introduced on the north-eastern side of the triangular green, according to a presentation shown to local councillors.

Focusing on this particular street – with its row of local businesses including a cafe, pharmacy and bar – would give the council an opportunity to deliver public realm improvements quickly, Liam Morrissey, the council’s senior executive architect, told the meeting.

Right now, it’s a two-way street, and its footpaths are very narrow, he said. “So it’s quite a constrained street as it currently is.”

The street will become more pedestrian-friendly, he said. But “it’s not going to be a fully pedestrianised street”.

While there won’t be any permanent pedestrianisation, the street will, for its sixth year, be pedestrianised on weekends over the summer from 29 May to 30 August, Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey told the meeting.

There were “some difficulties”, but the council reached an agreement with locals once again, he said.

Next week, the council intends to commence the process of seeking Part 8 approval for the proposed changes, which means the council will apply to itself for planning permission, Morrissey said.

Ideally, the council officials would be bringing this before councillors to decide on in September, he said.

Things move fast in Sandymount

Back in April 2024, members of the Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association (SAMRA) were carrying out early investigations into whether the north-eastern side could be permanently pedestrianised.

They were working with an architectural firm to draw up plans, chairperson David Turner said at the time.

But, in April 2025, council senior executives met with the residents association and told them that they would develop a scheme to improve the north-east side of the green, with this project including traffic calming, according to the SAMRA website.

The council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, and his project team met with SAMRA again in September to show their initial proposals for the street, which included a new one-way road with parking, while also retaining it as a pedestrianised area in the summer, the website says.

The footpaths are to be widened on the street and the carriageway narrowed, Morrissey told the South-East area committee on Monday. “But access deliveries and servicing, as well as parking will be facilitated on the street.”

They are aiming to declutter the street, he said. “Include some public seating, improved lighting and as many upgrades as we can.”

But it will also allow the summer pedestrianisation to continue into the future, he said. 

While currently, vehicles park on the northern, retail side of the street, the designs shown to councillors are proposing that the parking bays be relocated to the southern side that runs along the footpath outside the green, according to the slides shown at the meeting.

There would be two universally accessible parking spaces, Morrissey said. “The current ones are very narrow.”

New tactile paving at pedestrian crossings will be provided, he said. “And then we also get to implement some cycle parking, some public seating and some low level in-ground planting at each end of the street just to give that sense of a pedestrian priority environment.”

To date, the council has held “quite extensive” consultations with a disabled persons organisation, he said, as well as a non-statutory public consultation in December.

According to the report, the council received 281 submissions, 79 percent of which were in favour of the proposal.

Once the council commences the Part 8 planning process on 19 May, it will be open to public submissions and observations until the end of June, he said.

Depending on the number of submissions, they are hoping to seek councillors’ approval at their meeting in September, he said. “And our aim is that, if we can get that done and start on site early in 2027, the target would be to have the works completed by the summer of next year.”

Improvements inside and out

If the area around the green could be improved, could the council also think about fixing up paths inside the green itself? Lacey, the Labour councillor, asked. “Because they’re not very pleasant.”

Morrissey said the council’s parks department was looking at this separately. “I’m not sure what the status is of actually a full upgrade to the park and the paths in the area.”

But it is something the parks department will consider in the future, he said.

It was a very welcome proposal with only one parking space being lost, said Fine Gael Councillor David Coffey.

There is a lot of talk about reducing street clutter, but will the widened northern side of the street need bollards to prevent people from parking there, he said. “If they’re necessary, they’re necessary, and if they’re not it would be ideal if we could keep that part of the footpath as clear as possible.”

They will look to install retention socket pieces for bollards, he said. “Our aim is actually that we would not need the bollards along the street.”

They hope to omit the bollards, unless people continue to park up on the footpaths, he said.

Right now, the estimated cost is €490,000, he said. “All going to plan, we get the Part 8, there is funding there to move forward with this project under the Transport and Public Realm Department.”

The committee agreed to initiate the Part 8 process.