The council met local residents Monday to talk about options. Previous ideas have included housing, sports facilities, and a Traveller resource centre.
Work has begun to clear a longstanding, massive illegal dump and landfill in Belcamp Gardens in Priorswood, and the council is talking to residents about what to put on that site once it’s clear, a council manager said Monday.
A consultation meeting was taking place that night between the council and residents of Moatview Court and Belcamp Gardens, Derek Farrell, the council’s local area manager for Artane-Whitehall told a meeting of the North Central Area Committee.
In this consultation meeting, the council was to hear from locals what they wanted to be done with the large green site.
“We’re bringing a proposal. It’s a proposal to begin consultation, for them to come back to us – and then we will have a follow up meeting,” Farrell said.
Annette Flanagan, a resident and activist who has for years been pushing for the removal of the dump and landfill, was at the meeting on Monday.
She said by phone on Thursday that locals were generally pleased with what they heard from council officials and had no shortage of requests.
“A sensory garden, allotments, an all-weather pitch and a playground,” Flanagan said. “It’s what we’ve always been after. Things for the kids, for the old folks, everybody.”
However, Flanagan has a lingering concern, she said. “That all has to go out to tender. So, how long is this all going to take now? Is it as long as we’ve waited for the landfill to go?”
“It needs to be done now. Get your plans in now, and get your tender out now,” Flanagan said.
Internal council emails in 2018 and 2019 showed officials were reluctant to finance a cleanup of this industrial landfill until they had a plan for what would replace it.
They talked about building housing on the site, or developing it for community or commercial uses, or putting a council depot there.
Other suggestions included a Traveller resource centre, a sporting facility or allotments.
Council plans circulating in 2021 showed housing on the site, once the landfill was cleared.
At the meeting on Monday, Farrell told councillors that the Breffni Group had started removing waste the previous Friday, after the site setup began on 28 April.
The waste removal process will take two to three months, he said.
Independent Councillor John Lyons said the land was left to fester by the council and other agencies for too long, and should now be used for the benefit of the local community.
Also, those directly responsible for the dump and landfill should be held to account, Lyons said.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
“Your daughter going into the bushes to do a wee on a Saturday morning in the park is not ideal, at all.”
“We've gotten broken promises before from Dublin City Council, but this all feels different. We’ve never had this commitment before.”
Phase 1b of the project to eventually build upwards of 700 homes on the site envisions building 30 fronting onto Dolphin’s Barn Road.
Increase fines for the offence, and boost parking enforcement so people begin to fear getting caught, they say.
