With whitewater rafting out, groups push for lido or soccer pitch at George’s Dock

Grass pokes through the ground of George’s Dock, the square crater that sits between the Epic Museum and the IFSC.

In recent times, community groups have been pushing different visions for what should go here – some backing a version of a lido, and others calling for the space to become a full-size soccer pitch.

Plans for outdoor swimming and a lido at George’s Dock were “suspended” last year, according to the Dublin City Council’s capital programme, which was published in December 2023.

Instead, the council set aside €500,000 for this year as it explored alternative options for the site, it says.

But a spokesperson didn’t respond to queries sent Friday as to what, if anything, it has come up with.

Meanwhile, area councillors are objecting to a council spokesperson’s assertion – quoted in an article in The Times last month – that they had killed the lido idea.

“We didn’t refuse anything,” said Ray McAdam, a Fine Gael councillor who was chair of the Central Area Committee at the time.

The council should explore the lido idea fully and other ideas too, says Janet Horner, a Green Party councillor. “It’s not acceptable that there is no plan.”

Going big

In January 2019, council officials put forward the now notorious idea of developing a whitewater rafting facility at George’s Dock.

That vision was initially backed by most councillors but later abandoned after rising estimated costs, public pushback, and at times, ridicule.

In 2022, the council asked architecture firm Urban Agency to develop proposals for the site and it came up with four ideas – a park, a whitewater rafting facility, an Olympic-sized pool, or a lido and “rescue village” where emergency services could train.

The lido with a rescue village was the preferred option, said the agency, in a presentation to Central Area councillors in July 2022.

That same month, members of the Docklands Oversight and Consultative Forum also debated potential uses, and council officials ruled out a suggestion for an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

“Dublin City Council Executive consider the proposed swift water rescue as necessary for countrywide rescue service operators,” says the minutes. “The Assistant Chief Fire Officer is noted as supportive of this proposal.”

Derek Kelly, council director of services, assured the forum that further consultations would take place on the options for George’s Dock.

In January 2023, the Dublin City Lido campaign group presented its vision to councillors on the Central Area Committee for multiple heated swimming pools, saunas, diving boards, green space and community facilities at the site.

Dublin City Lido is now fundraising to get designs further developed – but Dublin City Council is no longer backing that plan, it seems.

“A presentation was made by Dublin City Lido to the Central Area committee in January 2023 for a public lido at George’s Dock,” said the council spokesperson, in an article in The Times last month.

“Due to significant costing, the committee did not wish to progress with the proposal at the time,” the spokesperson said.

But McAdam and Horner say that wasn’t their understanding.

They thought that council officials were to carry out further research and report back to councillors on the feasibility of that plan, they said.

Dublin City Council hasn’t responded to a query about this sent on Friday.

Competing ideas

While Dublin City Lido campaigns for outdoor pools, it’s not the only idea being floated.

The area really needs a full-size, all-weather soccer pitch, says Leonard Russell, the secretary of Sheriff Youth Club and manager of its under-11s team.

From the time they are allowed to play outside the children from the north inner-city are playing football, he says. “They are all football-mad.” Boxing is popular too, he says.

Because land is so valuable in the city centre, sports facilities can only realistically be built on public land, says Russell, so locals see an opportunity in the council-owned George’s Dock.

“A lot of the development in the Docklands is aimed at a different bunch of people,” says Russell.

And, Dublin City Council already runs swimming pools in the north inner-city, including one at Sean McDermott Street, he says.

His club has 12 under-age football teams and two senior teams, he says. But the largest football pitch in the area is a seven-a-side astroturf – and so the club plays home matches at the Alfie Byrne Road pitches and Fairview Park, in Dublin 3.

The small pitches are also over-subscribed, so the club can’t expand further, as they would have nowhere to train, he says. “It makes it easier if you have pitches to have an impact with young people.”

Despite not having access to proper playing pitches, lots of successful footballers have come from the north inner-city, including Ireland players Olivia O’Toole, Troy Parrott, Wes Hoolahan and Keith Treacy, says Russell.

Having a proper home pitch in the north inner-city would encourage a better sense of community as it would be easier for locals to attend matches, says Russell. “If it’s within the community it brings the whole community together.”

Water or not?

Under the current city development plan, whatever is built at George’s Dock has to fit with the “water animation strategy” for the Docklands.

This promotes the area “as a significant water focussed amenity … that enhances the area as a world class destination for living, doing business, tourism, leisure and cultural activities”.

The development plan also says the council aims to explore the possibility of a new cultural space as part of the development of George’s Dock Basin.

But McAdam, the Fine Gael Councillor, says: “I’m open to any suggestion, at this stage, for an active use.” The current zoning requires a water-based activity, he says.

He plans to meet with the Dublin City Lido campaign in the coming weeks, he says.

Central Area councillors have not rejected that proposal, he says. “There was no way in which we knocked anything back.”

Horner, the Green Party councillor, says similar. She understood that the council was going to carry out a feasibility study into that plan, she says.

Also, says McAdam, the council is looking at the feasibility of temporary or meanwhile uses.

It plans to install winter lights at George’s Dock this year, he says. And groups have pitched ideas such as a temporary padel court, says McAdam. Padel being a racket sport, kind of like tennis.

Horner says that given George’s Dock is on the record of protected structures and part of the water heritage of the city, her understanding is that any permanent future use has to be water-based.

She really wants to see something happen at George’s Dock, she says. “It’s an incredible site that has huge potential for regeneration of the whole area and the city itself.”