Council Briefs: A new park for Portobello Harbour, pedestrianising South William Street, and arsons at Sean Moore Park  

Portobello Harbour Park

Dublin City Council is set to lodge its planning application for the long-awaited redesign of Portobello Plaza next week.

During a presentation to councillors at the South East Area Committee’s meeting on Monday, the council’s landscape architect provided an overview of what is set to be known as Portobello Harbour Park.

The council had been working to resolve a number of issues in recent months, Eddie O’Gara told the committee. “A big one is ensuring that cycle and active transportation can still use the space.”

It has also been designed to accommodate any future active travel schemes, such as a Grand Canal Greenway, according to a presentation from the council’s Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services.

O’Gara told the committee that the new park at Portobello Harbour would feature two routes along the edges of the canal and Portobello House for vulnerable users, such as pedestrians, people with disabilities or reduced mobility.

Planters and seating would be used as barriers to separate these users and cyclists, the masterplan says.

The masterplan map also shows a rain garden, play elements and a lawn, which will turn the plaza into a community pocket park, he said. “Very green and very lush, catering for all the users in the area.”

To accommodate skateboarding, skate-friendly kerbing and raised edges have also been included as a feature around the proposed lawn between the Nyx Hotel and Portobello House.

The Dublin Bikes stands now on the square will be moved to Lennox Street, which the council intends to do before they start any construction, O’Gara said.

“It turns out if you ask for something every single month for about four years, you might just get what you want,” said Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne, who has in the past voiced her frustration with delays in building the park.

Byrne also asked what the play facilities would look like. O’Gara said that’s not decided yet. “There’s certainly flexibility in the play zone for various types of play.”

Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn asked that the area be made into a “slow zone” for cyclists to protect vulnerable users.

The space is going to feel significantly different after these works have been carried out, O’Gara said. “It will feel like a park.”

“You will feel like you’re entering a place and not a movement zone, so that in itself will begin the process of changing behaviour when you arrive there,” he said.

O’Gara said he is hoping to lodge the Part 8 planning application next week, the planning process for council projects.

But O’Gara did not say whether the hotel developer, MKN Property, would be part-funding the development of the square as has previously been stated by the council.

On South William Street

Also at the South East Area Committee’s meeting on Monday, Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne tabled a motion calling on the area manager to progress a feasibility study for the full pedestrianisation of South William Street.

The full pedestrianisation of the street, subject to that study, is an objective in the council’s City Development Plan, 2022 to 2028.

In response to Byrne’s motion, Claire French, an executive engineer in the City Centre Transport Projects Section, said only that a timeline for the study “will be established and issued to councillors”.

More detail is needed, Byrne said, because it had been more than a year and a half since the development plan was signed off on. “And we have yet to see any movement on that feasibility.”

The council needs to consult with the businesses and residents on that street, she said. “And I think we need to learn from what ended up being a very successful project on the pedestrianisation of Capel Street.”

A lot of lessons could be taken from Capel Street, she said. “The earlier we start that process, the better the outcome.”

Pedestrianising College Green is understandably the priority, she said. “But in the meantime, can we start that conversation with the businesses and the residents and the wider public on how we can facilitate that pedestrianisation in a more positive way.”

Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn cast some scepticism over the impact this could have on South William Street. He pointed to the weekend just gone, and how busy it had been.

Fade Street, Drury Street and large parts of South William Street were commandeered by people drinking outside, he said. “It was just catastrophic for businesses, because they couldn’t trade.”

Locals couldn’t pass through the streets, he said. “There were drunks lying around the place. It was full of drink and drugs. The noise was catastrophic. The hotels never stopped complaining.”

If the council is going to consider pedestrianising any of these neighbourhoods, they need a robust public consultation, he said.

Byrne’s motion was agreed.

Fires at Sean Moore Park

Last Wednesday, Fine Gael Councillor James Geoghegan took to social media to post an image showing that the playground in Sean Moore Park had been set on fire – again.

In response, Geoghegan put forward an emergency motion at Monday’s area committee, asking that the council introduce CCTV cameras at the park in Irishtown.

Repairs are underway to restore the affected areas, although one piece of equipment susceptible to fire damage won’t be reinstated, said Frank Lambe, the acting executive manager for the council’s Central and South East administrative areas, in a written report.

But there aren’t any immediate plans to install CCTV in the park, Lambe wrote.

If CCTV couldn’t happen, then could the council introduce fencing at least? said Green Party Councillor Hazel Chu.

Cornelia Raftery, council executive parks superintendent, said the existing timber fence will be replaced with metal fencing to reduce people’s access to firewood.

“That should help, and any new replacement play equipment, we’ll definitely be taking into account the fact that there is an ongoing problem with fires being set,” she said. “So we’ll be choosing wisely in the future.”

A new container cafe and public toilet should also be installed by the council beside the nautically themed playground in the coming months.

That should hopefully provide some passive surveillance, Raftery said. “So all of that hopefully will improve the situation down there.”

But Geoghegan said he can’t wait for a cafe or fencing. The park has been set on fire multiple times in the last 12 months, he said. “It’s just happened so often, the only solution now is to install CCTV.”

Flynn, the independent councillor, said money needs to be put into the area’s youth services to prevent anti-social behaviour among young people. “The likes of the Spellman Centre and the local community centre, the resources that are in there need to be pulled in here to deal with this issue.”

Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey agreed, saying that is the ideal project for the next five councillors who will be elected on 7 June for the South East Inner City local electoral area.

“There are resources going into the area,” he said. “Maybe they could be used better. Maybe we need more resources.”