Templeogue Synge Street has responded to concerns over the sale of a section of the Dolphin Park playing fields in south inner city Dublin, which the club currently shares with the Kevin’s hurling and camogie, on the edge of the most densely populated area in the country.
The GAA has approved the sale as part of a plan to develop the existing facilities and help furnish a debt which it assumed from Templeogue Synge Street, although the Kevin’s club have been campaigning for a change of heart, maintaining it will negatively impact on the playing space in an already deprived area of the city.
According to Templeogue Synge Street, who own pitches, the plan is “a long term commitment to the local area by developing a plan to greatly improve and secure the facilities in Dolphin Park”.
Despite the concerns of the Kevins club, they added: “This will provide improved pitch surfaces, improved indoor facilities (dressing rooms, showers, gym, and meeting rooms) and improved training facilities via a small all-weather training surface and flood lighting to enable greater use after dark.
“To facilitate this expansion the Club has received the backing of the Dublin County Board and the GAA in Croke Park to fundraise this initiative by selling a small piece of land on the site. Crucially, the new facility will still offer two adult and four juvenile pitches, as is currently the case.
“The development will be coupled with increased efforts to get improved community involvement in Gaelic Games. This part of the Dublin 8 badly needs our club’s investment in improved facilities as it has been lacking top class facilities for many years and no other sports club in the area is in a position to provide these opportunities for children in the area.”
Last week the Kevin’s club outlined their concerns, suggesting the development would remove around “28 per cent of the playing area”, and have added a petition to their campaign, via the GoPetition website, to “Preserve GAA sports pitches at Dolphin Park, Dublin”
The petition calls on "GAA Central Council, the new Ard Stiurthoir, Dublin GAA, Dublin City Council, local politicians and An Bord Pleanala to work with Kevin's to preserve all of the GAA sportsfields at Dolphin Park, to find a better solution/design to enable Dolphin Park to service a growing GAA community".
