In Mulhuddart, a councillor still wants a bridge taken out of storage

What is going on with stones from the old Mulhuddart bridge? asked Labour Party Councillor Mary McCamley at a council meeting on 4 September.

“What I want to know is, before I die, can I see these being put onto a little bridge in Mulhuddart so we can bring the bridge back,” McCamley asked at the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart/Castleknock/Ongar Area Committee meeting. 

“It’s going on for such a long time. I’m terrified the stones will disappear,” she said.

The bridge – built around 1885 – was demolished decades during roadworks when a new bridge was built nearby, McCamley said. 

She said the council could have kept both bridges, and she wants the old bridge back to provide pedestrian access. 

“Thankfully, they had the foresight to keep the stones,” she said. “All we’re asking is that the old bridge be reconstructed again, as near as possible to the original, so you could cross the river rather than the road”.

Other councillors backed her. 

Sinn Feín Councillor Breda Hanaphy said, “As long as I’ve known her, she’s been fighting for this.” 

Labour Councillor John Walsh also said McCamley has raised this issue many times, adding, “using these stones to build a new bridge would be very positive”.

“I live in Mulhuddart and am interested in the area. The history, the present and the future of the area,” said McCamley.

Solidarity Councillor John Burtchaell said the restoration would be “a real cherry on the cake” after upgrades in Tolka Valley Park, and congratulated McCamley on her “bridge over troubled water”.

In a written response to McCamley’s question, Kevin Halpenny, senior parks superintendent, said that the stones “are being stored in a secure area within the confines of Elm Green Golf club”. 

At the meeting, Halpenny, said he was “very conscious of councillor McCamley’s scepticism,” and for that reason, he said he recently visited the stones in storage and photographed them – and they’re safe in storage.

He said they intend to repurpose the stones as part of the Tolka Valley Regional Park redevelopment. 

Indeed, the council’s development plan for 2023 to 2029 includes an objective to “Support and facilitate the re-purposing of the stone from the original Mulhuddart Bridge in the context of the preparation and adoption of the Park Development Plan for the Tolka Valley Regional Park.”

And, “bridges do require planning”, Halpenny said at the meeting. “Even a modest one has to be done in an environmentally correct way.”

In his written response to McCamley, he said that “The stones have been individually marked to aid its reconstruction when a suitable site is identified in Tolka Valley Park as part of planned masterplan development of the park”. 

At the meeting, McCamley said a timeline would be “lovely”, and as for the stones, “I’ll keep asking for it as long as I’m a councillor.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.