There was another strong turnout on Saturday afternoon with 100+ attendees turning up to hear from DLRCOCO staff on their controversial plans to redevelop Shanganagh Park, building on the 80 approx. attendees to the first public session the previous Tuesday.

A group of 25+ walkers young and old from across the Shankill community and further afield also joined the pre-meeting #Walk2Woodbrook to take part in the reformatted public meeting hosted by DLRCOCO and the public engagement consultants they hired, Connect The Dots.

Tellingly, only one person spoke in favour of the plans without clarifying whether that was in relation to the proposed position or the more viable and sustainable alternatives to upgrade and enhance existing facilities within and around the park. Two sports clubs also highlighted the need for new and improved facilities but stopped short of endorsing the Council proposals.

The community have the answer if the Council and clubs have the will

So as was the case at the first public session the previous Tuesday, the mood once again in the room was clearly one of amazement and frustration with the vast majority of attendees astonished at the same plans being presented for a THIRD time by the Council. This despite overwhelming community opposition, a High Court Order quashing original plans, and widespread support for a more sustainable alternative by enhancing/upgrading existing sports infrastructure to support local (and not so local) clubs AND at the same time protect and increase the park’s rich natural environment - a win-win for all involved that will eliminate most if not all objections to the current plans.

4 out 4 TDs, 3 out of 7 Councillors, fail to attend

No sign over the last two sessions of TDs Ossian Smyth, Cormac Devlin, Richard Boyd Barrett and Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, nor Councillors Hugh Lewis, Una Power or Frank McNamara but other Shankill/Killiney Ward Councillors Carrie Smyth, Michael Clark, Jim Gildea and Denis O'Callaghan made time last week to attend and listen at one or both sessions - let’s hope they now see the benefits of the economical, social and environmentally sustainable  alternative and viable solutions, support community concerns and wishes, and encourage their council colleagues to follow suit.

What next?

This now brings to a close the latest round of public meetings - the current engagement period closes on 24 Jan if anyone still wishes to email their observations to parksconsultations@dlrcoco.ie

Following that, the Council will review all feedback and suggestions and have already provisionally pencilled 03 Feb to launch a new Part 8 application for Phase One (which seems very early to gather and meaningfully consider all the views captured, unless of course their plan all along was to tick a box and push ahead regardless.

If this happens and there are no significant and meaningful improvements to the plans that support sport, biodiversity and the needs of ALL park users,  the community will once again be ready to stand up to  #SaveShanganaghPark 

Please sign and share www.change.org/SaveShanganaghPark to add you voice and to follow the campaign updates/calls to action.

Finally, sincere thanks to all community walkers, meeting attendees, petition signatories and followers/champions on social media (www.facebook.com/SaveShanganaghPark) for the amazing goodwill and offers of support - we support sport and nature for all and this is very much a team effort!

Keep spreading the good word and stay tuned for any developments…