Seeking a louder voice, Crumlin residents look to start a new community forum

On a stormy Thursday evening last week, about two dozen people gathered in St Agnes’s parish hall in Crumlin.

They were there for the launch of a report on the results of a project to map the area’s resources, and challenges, and to consult with the people who live there about what the community needs most.

This project, called the People’s Transition Crumlin, has an eye to tackling climate change.

But “people have more pressing needs on a day-to-day basis”, said Deirdre Carolan, a researcher at the think-tank Tasc, one of three organisations behind the effort – along with environmental group Bloomin’ Crumlin and the Dublin South City Partnership.

“So when you’re coming at them talking about climate action, you have to solve their other problems first,” she told the audience sitting in rows of chairs in the hall. The project has identified three problems and three solutions to work on.

One problem is that a lot of area residents don’t feel heard, the mapping and engagement phases of the project found, according to a 60-page printed version of the report, which was distributed at the meeting.

When asked what they’d like to see more of, 85 percent of 193 respondents to an online survey said “decision-making at a community level”. So the plan is to start a new Crumlin Community Forum to better represent Crumlin, and push for improvements.

Another problem is the lack of community spaces. In the survey, 76 percent of respondents said they’d like more of those. So the plan is for the new community forum to push for the creation of a new multi-purpose community centre for Crumlin.

The third issue the project identified was improving biodiversity and green spaces across Crumlin.

“Bloomin’ Crumlin is currently working towards this,” the book says. “Engaging with the Community Forum on developing a greening strategy for the area would bring in more diverse groups across the community into the regeneration, maintenance, and care of green spaces.”

Tasc was involved in a similar People’s Transition project in Phibsboro, and issued a report on that in January 2022. And in Larchville and Lisduggan in Waterford, issuing a report in June of this year.

Crumlin Community Forum

It’s hard to organise Crumlin residents, Bloomin’ Crumlin coordinator Trevor Clowry told the audience at the meeting in the parish hall.

There was a table with teas and coffees and biscuits, and some were cradling paper cups of warm drinks, and nibbling on biscuits as Clowry talked.

“It’s very hard to communicate with all the people of Crumlin, it’s hard to get everyone’s thoughts, hard to get consensus,” Clowry said. “So the community forum is what we’re thinking is a good way to get opinions from everyone.”

Nearby areas have the Kilmainham Inchicore Network (KIN) and Dynamic Drimnagh, said Carolan, of Tasc.

Crumlin could have something similar, ideally with some funding to hire a full-time coordinator. “The game changer is getting adequate funding,” said O’Donoghue, of the Dublin South City Partnership.

This new forum would be designed to bring together a wide range of institutions and organisations and people from across Crumlin.

The next step? Organise a first meeting of potential members early next year, O’Donoghue said.

Alan Byrne, sitting among the audience, raised his hand, and when called on to speak, said “I think this is a fantastic starting point, because we’d have a unified voice.”

The group should include people from all over Crumlin, long-time residents and new arrivals, all ages, all kinds of people, Byrne said.

That’s the plan, Clowry said. “We’re trying to get as many groups as possible as we can, to represent the whole community,” he said.

Groups interested in joining the forum could contact Clowry or himself, O’Donoghue said after the event.

A big, new community centre

It’s also hard to organise events in Crumlin, Clowry said. “We’re really struggling to host events with over 100 people,” he said.

Crumlin needs a big, community-controlled centre where young people can hang out, community groups can hold events, older people to come for activities, and more, Clowry said.

James Doyle, sitting at the back of the audience, said he used to be a youth worker at the F2 Centre.

“We used to have kids as young as second class coming down from Crumlin on the bus alone,” he said. There should be something closer to home for them, he said.

If it was possible for Rialto to get the F2, it should be possible for Crumlin to get something similar, said Hilda Milner, general manager of St. Agnes’ Community Centre for Music and the Arts (CCMA).

“Maybe we should link in with Fatima United, they’ve done all this,” Milner said.

Yes, said Doyle “These things happen, these things can happen.”

When it does, “there needs to be a designated space for children who aren’t into sport, a designated creative space where children can develop – the arts can be transformative”.

With the community organised via the new forum, it’ll be able to make a stronger case, said Clowry, of Bloomin’ Crumlin.

“I think the unified approach is key,” he said. “It increases the case, it pushes it much stronger than without it.”