COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE-TERENURE AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

QUESTION NO.7

QUESTION: Councillor D. Looney

"To ask the Chief Executive to report on all outdoor basketball courts available to the public in the area under the remit of this Committee, on plans to deliver any such facilities, and to make a statement on the matter?"

REPLY:

It was the practice in the past, as part of the development of many of the larger parks in the county, to provide a basketball court facility in association with a tennis court facility, as part of the active recreation amenities provided. Typically this was provided either as a sole use court within the tennis courts area or provided by the dual marking of one of the tennis courts. The experience has been that where tennis / basketball courts were provided, for the most part, they received only limited, seasonal use with the basketball court receiving the least use. The few places where tennis courts did work well were where they were associated with the presence of a local, active tennis group or club.

In most other cases, the tennis / basketball courts were infrequently used and as a result subjected to vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The most frequent use of tennis /basketball courts was for infomal soccer kickabouts. As a result, in recent years, disused tennis courts / basketball courts have been converted to other uses such as all weather five a side pitches. These conversions have proven to be very popular and have resulted in considerable reductions of incidents of vandalism and anti-social behaviour at those locations.

The Public Realm Section is not aware of any specific demand for basketball courts in the county, nor has there been any contact with any group or club seeking provision of same. Any requests for basketball courts will be considered on their merits but it should be noted that it would be expected that a viable proposal would have to include the existence of an active club or some other form of clearly demonstrable public demand to have a realistic chance of success.