Review of 2022
It is hard to believe another year is over! Hopefully you are all well and getting back out doing the things you missed in the recent COVID years.
GADRA started the first quarter of the year by making a submission into the Dublin City Council 5-year Development Plan. We also met with a range of politicians representing our area to highlight the issues within the area, in addition to making contact with the Archbishop in relation to the Hall closure.
We also began the process of attending monthly Zoom meetings with RINA who are the Independent Expert appointed to help residents understand the technical aspects of the Metrolink project. All our meeting notes from these meetings are on the GADRA website. It has been very busy for our area, with two major infrastructure projects going to planning in the third quarter, both coming for consultation at the same time. We note that the Metrolink consultation has been extended until 16th January 2023, driven by the fact that TII made an incomplete application to An Bord Pleanála. Despite this extension, it has been a challenge for our small Committee to review the extensive volume of materials and prepare submissions on behalf of you, our Residents. The impacts arising from both of these projects will have major significance for our area, especially Albert College Park and Mobhi Road. We would continue to encourage all residents to make a submission to the An Bord Pleanála in relation to Metrolink, as there is still time to do so. GADRA have linked in with all associations along the route, in particular working closely with our neighbours in Ballymun Albert College Hampstead Ave and Prospect ACA.
GADRA continued to highlight the ongoing issues with the Cycle Lane on Griffith Avenue, which seems to be an issue for cyclists as well as pedestrians and residents. We have highlighted the lack of cleaning of the cycle track behind the area of the floating parking along the field – but DCC assure us they are doing this. It is our understanding that a safety audit will be carried out on the track in January so please send any safety concerns you have to your councillors TDs and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We noticed late in the Summer that Councillors had voted in favour of a late amendment by Cllr Niall Ring to Phase Three of the Development Plan to re-zone the grass verges on Griffith Avenue along the field to Whiteland. The category of White Land "is to cater for those cases where land is zoned for development at some time in the future, but no objectives or specific controls are indicated", yet Cllr Niall Ring wanted this change to facilitate vehicular access from the field. This would have, according to DCC, resulted in the loss of trees at this location. GADRA contacted all of our Councillors asking them to vote against this motion and indeed Cllr Allison Gilliland (lab) Cllr Patricia Roe (SocDem) Cllr Eimer McCormick (FF) and the full Green Councillor group put in counter motions. Cllr Ring's motion was overwhelmingly defeated and the current Z9 zoning remains. We are grateful to the Councillors who voted to save the verges, which are safe for now, but note that this issue is likely to come up again when plans for the field are submitted.
There are now leaf mulch cages back in this position along the field, which is a Z9 activity – please place your leaves (and only leaves) in these cages. We are looking at ways of watering the cages over dry spells and if you have any ideas how to do this, please let us know. We will have community compost to distribute in two years. We need help to maintain and develop this project so please volunteer and help with this.
A big thank you again to the Pat and Sally in Nearby Shop The Rise for stocking the DCC compostable bags for leaves and to all those who collect and gather them – again a big thank you to the scouts for helping us out gathering leaves.
We continue to answer all calls and texts asap (we did have an issue with phone but this has been sorted ) – phone-0873658885 and respond to emails by return – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We have a text alert - if you want your number added to it just let us know. Declan keeps our website up to date and it has been a very busy year on the website, so we encourage you to look at that for information relevant to our area. We do hope to have an AGM next year and look forward to meeting in person again.
We will be saying goodbye in January to Brendan Gaffney, who has been our Treasurer for over 30 years - he leaves us in a strong financial position (account available on request) and we want to thank him for his contribution over the years. We will miss him greatly.
We do need more volunteers both for some of our projects or on committee, and we would welcome new people- just drop us a text or email.
And finally , DCC supplied lights for the Olive Trees on Griffith Ave (we had to hang them ourselves but they are up now and lit) so it just remains for us to wish you all a very Happy Christmas .
Ruth
Secretary
GADRA