More than half of Dublin City Council's senior managers live outside the city
Would the senior management team be more attuned to the city's needs if more of them lived in it – and would it be fair to require them to?
Fingal
Upgrades for Swords, and more, in Fingal's latest capital programme
Councillors were brought through the council's capital programme for 2027 to 2029 at the meeting on Monday.
3 min read
Fingal County Council is expecting to spend €20.5 million on upgrades in Swords' town centre over the next three years, councillors learnt on Monday.
The transformation of the town's Main Street is one of the council's upcoming projects laid out in its latest capital programme.
Councillors were brought through the council's capital programme for the next three years at their monthly full council meeting on Monday evening.
The project which will include upgrades to its laneways, a local heritage trail, pocket parks and planting and is making progress after the council held a non-statutory public consultation over the summer, Linda Lally, a senior engineer in Fingal's Infrastructure and Transport Department said at the meeting.
“So we’re working at the moment on preliminary design, looking towards the lodging and planning application I think towards the middle of next year,” she said.
The transformation project links in with the council's new cultural quarter in Swords, which is “advancing extremely well”, John Quinlivan, director of Economic, Community and Cultural Development told the meeting.
The new arts centre, Culture House is moving ahead with €9 million provided to get it over the line by May, he said.
Also as part of the quarter, the council will carry out a series of public realm works that will cost €4 million in 2027 and 2028, the capital plan says.
Councillors were brought through the council's capital programme for 2027 to 2029 at the meeting on Monday.
Unlike the revenue budget, which councillors are due to agree in November, the capital programme is just "noted" by elected members.
The latest capital programme has 339 projects spanning housing, transport, active travel, cultural development, digital services and sports.
The biggest line item is, as it has been for years, on housing. Fingal County Council expects to spend €1.4 billion on housing over the next three years, according to this latest programme. That's roughly two-thirds of the overall projected spend, of €2.14 billion.
That includes €395.4 million on building new social homes, the programme says.
It is to cover the social-housing bits of projects such as the soon-to-be-complete Mourne View development in Skerries and two phases in Ballymastone in Donabate, said Paul Carroll, Fingal’s director of housing at Monday's full council meeting.
The fourth phase of the council’s Churchfields development has been allocated €73.5 million, the plan says, while phase two of the Mooretown development in Swords has been allocated €51.2 million.
A big chunk of that line though, €567 million, is set aside for Part V acquisitions, in which the council buys homes in big private developments to use as social and affordable homes, the plan says.
Other lines
Transport and strategic infrastructure in the county, meanwhile, has been allocated €369 million, Lally, the senior engineer in Fingal's Infrastructure and Transport Department told the chamber.
Greenways make up a hefty portion of these projects, with €107.5 million for them in the plan, including €8.2 million for the Royal Canal Greenway and €16 million for phase one of the Fingal Coastal Way.
The Broadmeadow Way is currently on site, Lally said at the meeting. “That work could progress further into next year with a view to opening in 2028.”
It has been allocated €25.6 million for 2027 and 2028, the plan says.
The Sutton to Malahide pedestrian and cycle scheme is progressing too, she said. “So work is ongoing at the moment in terms of the reviewing of the planning applications and [compulsory purchase orders] and lodging a planning application before Christmas this year.”
The Blanchardstown District Heating Scheme is also making progress, said David Storey, Fingal’s director of services for Environment, Climate Change and Active Travel.
The council has funding from the Sustainable Energy Authority Of Ireland, he said. “And we’ve now secured a lane of funding for the preliminary cost for the Blanchardstown District Heating Scheme.”
The programme has allocated €2.25 million to the scheme over the next three years, the plan says.
EU funding has also been sought for 90 percent of the pre-construction costs with the balance to be provided by the council or central government, it says. “The financial feasibility of this project is dependent on the degree of government funding which is not yet finalised.”
Finally, Storey gave an update on the long-awaited municipal pool in Castlelands, outside Balbriggan.
The project is now expected to cost €11.2 million, according to the capital plan.
And the council has gone out to tender for the first phase of works, Storey said. “We’d hope that the pool would open in Q2 of 2028.”
The capital programme was noted by councillors.
Read next
Fingal County Councillors hold local property tax at same rate as last year
Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly had suggested nudging it up a bit.
To counter AI, an illustrator in Balbriggan offers to draw posters for barter
Lauren Fernandes noticed menus and flyers all over with the same sterile look, and thought: what if she could help out small businesses which can't afford creative work, usually?
Councillors back proposal to honour "legendary footballer" Ciarán Kilkenny in Dublin 15
"He's a local lad here from Carpenterstown, he's a local schoolteacher," said Fine Gael Councillor Ted Leddy, who proposed the motion. "A mural or something like that would be very appropriate."
Some locals push for beach-side bypass at Sutton – but it would cut through a Special Protection Area
It would be a bypass to the Station Road, and consist of a road, cycleway and footpath, according to a petition that was launched by the campaign on 27 July.