COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 10, 2013

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor C. King

Mayor's Business

That this Council while treating the County Town and in particular Tallaght Village in a 'different manner' to the other Villages in the County in relation to the 'Villages initiative' calls on the Manager to look strategically at the feasibility of acquiring the so called 'esso site' in Tallaght Village in the medium term with a view to it being used as a focal point for passive recreation for the Citizens of Tallaght and indeed the wider County and for this location to be considered for the erection/placement of the previously agreed memorial to the Women and Men of 1916 and for this to form the centre-piece of the Citizen driven recreational centre of this Historical part of the Village

REPORT:

The site in question is in private ownership and the zoning of the site is CT 'County Town' in the current South Dublin County Development Plan 2010 - 2016. The assigned future land use in the Tallaght Local Area Plan which runs to 2016 is for mixed use development, with up to 100% residential development permissible, a maximum building height of four stories and a maximum plot ratio of 1:1.5.

The planning history of the site includes refusal of planning permission for mixed residential/retail development on two occasions (39 and 32 no. units respectively) dating back to 2006 and 2007 and a grant of planning permission for 25 residential units and 654m2 of commercial development by the Council initially and then on appeal by An Bord Pleanala in December 2008. This planning permission remains extant and includes a small set-back public space on the southern elevation of the site facing Main Street.  The cost of purchasing the site would be considerable and the Council does not in the medium to long term have to resources to do so.    

Tallaght Village has been well served in the provision of recreation space and parks and the site is close to/ within reasonable walking distance of Sean Walsh Park and Bancroft Park.   

There is also the small, village pocket park at the far side of the Greenhills Road from the site in question and the main regional park for Tallaght—Tymon Park—is less than 2 miles away. 

In addition the ZIP project has provided a safe, pedestrian friendly walkway linking the new town centre, with its civic and shopping quarter and the LUAS terminus at one end with the village at the other passing by the Institute of Technology en-route, zipping together what were two disparate parts within central Tallaght.  Two plazas were part of the project and are located in Tallaght village; providing small refuges for pedestrians with planting and seating within high quality paved plazas, creating areas of passive recreation.

South Dublin Libraries are actively collating and developing collections towards commemorating the centenary of 1916 – sourcing memorabilia, photographs and documentation pertaining to the rising and its aftermath. 600 new items on 1916 and the revolutionary period have been added in the past year to the Local Studies resources. All this material will be open and freely available from SOURCE - the digital heritage section of www.southdublinlibraries.ie . A 1916 oral history project in conjunction with Irish Life and Lore is also planned as part of the commemorations.

South Dublin Libraries will also invite all Leaving Certificate History students to submit their Leaving Certificate History research project essays for consideration for a Pádraig Pearse prize to be inaugurated in 2013. The winner and other entrants whose papers are deemed to be of publishable standard (good Leaving Certificate standard) may be invited to contribute their work to a projected volume of essays on Irish History to be published in 2016 to mark the centenary of 1916. Entries will be open to all those students residing in or studying in the South Dublin County area or completing a research project associated with the South Dublin area also to those attending our research project seminars. Lectures, workshops and other events will be delivered in 2016 as plans evolve. 

With regard to commissioning a commemorative piece of art/sculpture and this being located in Tallaght Village as discussed at the December Council meeting http://intranet/cmas/documentsedit.aspx?id=34237&itemTxt=H-I1, no funding has been made available to date.  The Arts Office will assist should such a source of funding arise and assist in an application made by a local special interest group at an agreed specified location. In the interests of advancing the matter as a countywide project it is considered that a report on the options on how a project could be commissioned should be considered by the Arts, Culture, Gaeilge, Education and Libraries SPC.