Councillors reject motion calling to re-open Cabra skatepark

From when Oisín MacInnes was 11 years old to when he was 13, he used to skateboard at the local skatepark in Cabra every day after school, he says.

“It was the first skatepark I used, it was the closest one to my house,” says MacInnes, who now works in High Rollers Skate Store in Aungier Street.

Young people on scooters also used the facility at Cabra Parkside Community Sports Centre, he says. As he recalls, it was busy.

Then the council closed the Cabra skatepark suddenly. “I was pretty upset when it happened,” MacInnes says.

He wasn’t the only one. A petition in February 2020 calling on the council to re-open the skatepark gathered 274 signatures.

At a meeting of the council’s Central Area Committee on Tuesday, Green Party Councillor Feljin Jose proposed a motion calling on the council to reopen it.

A written response to Jose’s motion from the council executive, issued at the meeting, said the council had closed the skatepark “on health and safety grounds, due to metal structure failure.”

There were also access issues (people had to get to it through the sports centre) and some people were not using safety equipment, says an email Jose received from a council official in November.

Philip Halton, founder of Irish skateboarding magazine Goblin, says, yes, “The Cabra one was not designed or built well enough to pass the test of time”.

Halton says the council should rebuild a new, better-maintained skatepark on the current site. Councils around the country are working on plans for skateparks and the biggest challenge is usually identifying suitable locations, he says.

However, at the meeting on Tuesday, the majority of the councillors on the committee declined to support Jose’s motion calling for the Cabra skatepark to be reopened.

Demand for skateparks

At the Cabra Parkside Community Sports Centre, there are multiple grass pitches for soccer and GAA, and a small astroturf pitch – right beside the long-closed skatepark.

When the council closed the skatepark, the plan was to replace it with a multi-use games area, a small pitch that can also be used to play basketball, according to the executive’s written response to Jose.

The council hasn’t done that in the years since it closed the skatepark. But MacInnes, the skater from Cabra, says he doesn’t support the idea anyway. “There are loads of football pitches already,” he says.

After the council closed his local skatepark, he then had to cycle 4km to Fairview to skateboard. “It was pretty annoying,” he says.

Halton, founder of Goblin, says the council should rebuild a new skatepark on the site, using the model it used in Ballyfermot. “Ballyfermot skatepark has been an overwhelming success story,” he says.

The higher-quality builds are a better way to spend money because they last much longer, says Halton. The main thing is to use concrete as in Ballyfermot not metal, he says, because metal rusts and gets holes.

“Metal ramps are temporary, really,” he says. “They are always going to have more wear and tear.”

Ballyfermot’s park also has high-quality design and is open-access to users throughout the day, and there are lights for evening use, Halton says.

Most major towns in Ireland will be getting skateparks in the coming years, he says. “The main difficulty with getting skateparks built around the country is land,” he says. “If the land is already there, half of the work is already done.”

“Skateparks are very attractive places for teenagers to go,” he says. “They have the opportunity now, they have the space, they have the land, they have the precedent of it there before.”

MacInnes, the skater from Cabra, says there are no skateboarding facilities nearby, so young people would come from surrounding areas too, to use the skatepark on boards and BMX bikes.

“One hundred percent, definitely, there is loads of demand,” he says.

At the meeting

By phone last Thursday, Jose, the Green Party councillor, said “If they can maintain a skatepark in Ballyfermot, why can’t they do it in Cabra?”

He said the council is considering opening a brand-new skatepark in the neighbouring suburb in Finglas. Why not renovate the existing facility in Cabra as well?

“I think we need to provide a wide diversity of activities,” says Jose, by phone.

But at Tuesday’s Central Area Committee meeting, most local councillors didn’t support his motion, saying there were good reasons why the Cabra skatepark was closed.

Yes, there have been calls from some residents recently to “reinstate” the Cabra skatepark, said Fine Gael Councillor Colm O’Rourke at the meeting.

But “We have to remember that there were calls previously when it was in use, from residents to shut it,” he said. There was a risk of injuries, he said.

On the phone after the meeting, Sinn Féin Councillor Séamas McGrattan said there were a couple of incidents at the skatepark when it was open where people were injured, and that caused concerns about insurance.

Dublin City Council didn’t respond to a query as to how it deals with safety issues at its other skateparks.

McGrattan also questioned whether there was demand for a skatepark in the area. It was well-used at first, he said. “When it went in first it was great.”

But the council didn’t maintain the facility well, says McGrattan. “Some things were not repaired.”

Demand fell off then, he said. The skatepark was not well-used by the time it was shut, he said.

It’d be expensive to rebuild. “It didn’t work in Cabra,” McGrattan said. “So I’d be reluctant to put in so much money.”

O’Rourke, the Fine Gael councillor, said the council should carry out a consultation and perhaps work towards some kind of compromise.

Fianna Fáil Councillor John Stephens said he supported a use other than skateboarding for the site. “We have to use that in a proper and constructive way.”

McGrattan too suggested another use for the site might be better. There is massive demand for indoor sports facilities so the council might need to extend the sports centre building at that location instead, he said.

The council is currently carrying out an audit of sports facilities across the city to identify needs, and the best use of that space in Cabra should be examined carefully by that committee as part of that process, McGrattan said.