“It started out as a football project and it's turned into a game changer for the area and surrounding areas,” says John Hayden, the chairman of Belvedere Football Club.
Two north inner-city football clubs have been granted planning permission to redevelop and expand their community sports facilities, to include – among other things – a new floodlit astroturf, BMX course, gym, and clubhouse.
Dublin City Council published a final grant of permission for East Wall Bessborough FC and Belvedere FC on 5 November.
Plans for the indoor facilities on Alfie Bryne Road near Fairview Park show rooms that can be rented by other community organisations for workshops, events, support sessions, and similar.
The site to be developed is an old motocross site, next to the long-time home of Eastwall Bessborough FC.
At their monthly meeting on 3 November, Dublin city councillors also agreed to lease the land to the clubs for 99 years.
Social Democrats Councillor Daniel Ennis – who is vice-chairperson of Eastwall Bessborough FC and so stepped out of the meeting for the decision – has pushed the vision to redevelop the park for around three years.
Ennis said the club often couldn’t use its home ground which is near Fairview Park. “The pitch is often unplayable,” he said in May 2023.
The pitch would be closed off to block scramblers. Dog fouling was a problem too, and it was unplayable in the wintertime, said Ennis.
The new facility will be transformational for the area, says John Hayden, the chairman of Belvedere Football Club, by phone on Thursday.
“We’re absolutely delighted for the children and the community and the people in the area,” Hayden said. “It's something that the area has been crying out for for so long.”
The BMX track will be a national standard track, he says, so that races can take place there.
The plan is for Brian Harte from Dublin City Motocross to run the BMX track and provide education to young people on the safe use of scramblers, he said.
Also in the works are football classes for neurodiverse children and sensory play areas, said Hayden.
Local Olympian boxer Emmet Brennan plans to run boxing classes, including for children who are struggling with the development of their motor-skills, Hayden said.
Learning boxing skills is very beneficial for children with motor-skills issues, says Hayden, so he expects children to travel from all over Dublin to attend those classes.
Local schools will be able to use the facilities too, he said. “It started out as a football project and it’s turned into a game changer for the area and surrounding areas.”
The clubs are on the verge of securing funding for the development with the support of large businesses in the area, he says.
He expects that once built, the facilities will serve as inspiration for communities elsewhere, he said. “It’ll be an educational space and a community hub, as well as sports facilities.”
At the council meeting on Monday, Sinn Féin Councillor Janice Boylan welcomed leasing the land to the two clubs, which she said she and local TD and party leader, Mary Lou McDonald had supported from the start.
The lease – which is for €250 per year as long as the land is only used for sports – was agreed upon without further discussion.
The plans for the new facilities had already been presented to the council’s North Central Area Committee on 20 October.
At that meeting, most councillors welcomed the proposals, but asked why they hadn’t heard the details before.
Fianna Fáil Councillor Daryl Barron, who chairs the North Central Area Committee, said that committee should have had a presentation on the plans.
“The councillors’ responsibility is to approve stuff with the knowledge that they have in the best interests of the community,” said Barron.
The site is in the North Central Area. But the clubs are from the Central Area.
Bernard Brady, acting head of parks, agreed to organise a detailed briefing for local councillors before the lease came to the full council for agreement.
Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney said she welcomed the biodiversity elements of the plan.
The planning permission says the clubs will employ a qualified landscape architect who will draw up a landscape scheme including biodiverse green roof planting to the clubhouse and weather covers to visitor bicycle stands.
The landscape scheme should be implemented in the first planting season after the development is completed, says the planning permission.
Independent Councillor John Lyons said he would be interested to find out how the redevelopment was achieved, to try to get similar facilities built elsewhere in the area. “This is a great story, this is fantastic.”
Four clubs in the area would, if the project happens, be sharing the facilities.
Whatever is decided, Dublin City Council doesn’t plan to cover the costs. Instead, it wants a private operator to come in and deliver a facility or activity.
It’ll be used by more than the football team, said club committee member Keith O’Connell, but open to other local groups and a youth club too.
A delay in a railway project means Iarnród Éireann won’t need it for a couple more years. “That was the only stumbling block, that it would be required back very shortly.”
