In Clongriffin, a private developer removed much-needed speed bumps – and nobody will put them back

On a long unbroken stretch of road in Clongriffin, the engine of a small white van rattled through the afternoon, past a sign that reads “30km”.

Speeding on Marrsfield Avenue has been an ongoing issue since speed bumps were taken away more than two years ago, said local resident Cathriona Harper on Monday.

“It’s a big worry for a lot of us here especially with so many young kids around,” Harper says, gesturing towards her own son. 

She is in a WhatsApp group with other local mothers, she says. People complain regularly about it.

Constituents often raise it too with Social Democrats Councillor Paddy Monahan, he said by phone on Wednesday.

What could the council do to reinstate the traffic-calming measures “in light of consistent speeding by cars in what is a residential area full of young families”? he asked the city chief Richard Shakespeare at a monthly council meeting last July.

Not much, said Shakespeare in his reply in September. The area is privately owned, not in the charge of the council, so it’s not possible for it to“consider requests or make any traffic management recommendations in relation to this location”.

That same reason is being cited time and again in the northern fringes of Dublin city as blocking councils from responding to calls to make roads safer – whether the issue is the need for a school warden in Stapolin, or poles left with no traffic lights in Rathborne.

Meanwhile, across the border in Fingal, the council has been moving to step in and finish estates developers have left in limbo. It recently issued a tender worth an estimated €2 million for engineering consultants to help get estates completed so they’re ready for the council to take them in charge.

Who’s in charge here?

As far back as 2019, an engineering report was flagging the need for traffic calming on Marrsfield Avenue. At that time, there were speed bumps there.

In 2023, the issue came up at a local safety forum meeting, with a report saying that Gannon Homes, which developed the area, had told the forum the speed bumps were “temporary and not included in original planning requirements. Gannons will not be replacing them”. 

The company hasn’t responded to questions sent by email on Monday asking if they are aware of the continuing problem with speeding and if they planned to replace the speed bumps.  

Ahead of the monthly council meeting in October 2022, Sinn Féin Councillor Micheál MacDonncha asked the chief executive what additional efforts will be made to complete the taking-in-charge process of public areas in Clongriffin and Belmayne.

The reply said that the council would take over responsibility from the developer for the roads and footpaths and parks and other public areas there bit by bit, with Main Street prioritised, followed by Marrsfield Avenue.

But the council hasn’t got to it yet. 

Meanwhile, at the end of Marrsfield Avenue, just beyond Father Collins Park, the road continues into Belmayne. There, at Parkside, motorists soon encounter speed bumps.

“It’s all one long stretch really,” says Monahan. “So why does one end of the stretch deserve speed bumps, but the other end doesn’t?”

During the summer months, there is heavy foot traffic over and back from Father Collins Park to the newsagent across the road, he says.

“Kids going over and back for ice-creams, that sort of thing,” he says, “there is an accident waiting to happen”.

The council needs to prioritise the taking-in-charge process for Marrsfield Avenue, and elsewhere, Monahan says.

Monahan says he doesn’t blame Dublin City Council, nor the officials there, who “have steam coming out their ears” trying to address the many problems, while hampered by a drawn-out taking in charge process.

“Private interests are still in control of vast tracts of what should be publicly controlled land, publicly run in the interest of the people,” he says.

Part of the challenge is that, at times, developers don’t finish the developments up to the standard that the council says it needs, before it will take over responsibility for the infrastructure.

There are significant legacy issues relating to “private developments in Belmayne and Clongriffin not being built in accordance with DCC taking in charge standards”, said a report to the Dublin City Council’s North Central Area Committee meeting on 19 May.

Future developments in the area must be built in compliance with taking-in-charge standards to “avoid the scale of challenges now experienced on the schemes completed prior to the financial crisis”, the report said.

Problem made worse

Speeding on Marrsfield Avenue is worse because of the way drivers park, says Harper, the local resident.

There are spaces on either side of the road for parallel parking. But people just reverse into them, their cars jutting out into the street, which blocks cycle lanes – and forces cyclists onto the road.

That adds to the chaos and danger, she says.

At a meeting of the council’s North Central Area Committee meeting in February, Monahan also raised this. 

The council should “put in place such facilities as are necessary to deal with dangerous and illegal parking on the cycle route along Belmayne Road and Marrsfield Avenue”, he wrote.

Again, the response was that the council cannot make any traffic management recommendations for the area as it is private.

Further, as the area is not under council control, the council has no jurisdiction to do parking enforcement there, the response said. 

“Enforcement would currently fall under the remit of the management company,” said Suzanne Lacey, administrative officer for parking enforcement.

We can’t expect private companies to work in the public good, says Monahan. “That is what the council is for.”

A low priority?

There’s a small playground for toddlers in Belmayne Park, a kilometre from Marrsfield Avenue. 

If you want to see a microcosm of the broader issues associated with private companies staying in control of residential areas, consider that, says Monahan, the councillor.  

The equipment was damaged years ago, removed, and not replaced, Monahan says.

For the fraction of the cost of building a single apartment in Belmayne-Clongriffin, it could have been replaced, he says.

“It’s remained derelict for three or four years, because it's in the hands of private developers and because of the sheer difficulty getting anything done with this taking in charge process,” Monahan says. 

“A generation of toddlers has grown up in the area since that equipment was removed,” he says.

Belmayne resident and community activist Michelle McGoldrick says she was encouraged by a promise from Richard Shakespeare, the council’s chief executive, during a visit in the summer of 2023.

Shakespeare made a commitment to residents for a new playground, she says.

After some delays involving the council’s Parks Department, new tarmac was laid a few weeks ago, McGoldrick said earlier this month.

Monahan says that while he is pleased something appears to be happening with the playground, it’s extraordinary for such a “tiny, tiny thing” to take so long.

Children’s well-being is at stake in terms of the playground, Monahan says. People’s lives are at stake when it comes to speeding on Marrsfield Avenue, he says.

Ahead of the monthly council meeting in January, Fine Gael Councillor Supriya Singh asked the chief executive to clarify the reasons for the delay in taking in charge Marrsfield Avenue. 

Residents, she said, have raised ongoing concerns about hazardous traffic conditions “particularly during the morning rush when drivers speed to drop off passengers at the station, and again in the evening when people are picked up”.

The chief executive’s response was that discussions are ongoing with the developer and that “a response will issue to the Councillor as soon as possible”.

Singh said on Thursday that she has not received any further response on the matter. 

Under the Roads Act, 1993: “A road authority” – like Dublin City Council – “may, by order, declare any road over which a public right of way exists to be a public road … and responsibility for its maintenance shall lie on the road authority.”

However, while this may seem straightforward, says MacDonncha, the Sinn Féin councillor, it ultimately comes down to cost.

“When the developer undertook to do it, then really the obligation is on them,” he said by phone Thursday. “The problem, of course, is the legislation is not strong enough. It can be left in the situation we're in there now.” 

Dublin City Council has not responded to an email sent on Monday asking what the current timeline is for taking Marrsfield Avenue in charge.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.