COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, February 26, 2024

QUESTION NO. 7

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

"To ask the CEO will he present a report on the operation of the Astro facility in Sean Walsh Park; will he confirm the level of usage so far and what is being done to promote its availability and will he make a statement?"

REPLY: Sean Walsh Artificial Grass pitch was officially opened in November 2023 with the first football game played on 21st October 2023.

Sean Walsh Park is operating at over 90% of the weekly usage capacity during peak times, peak times are Monday to Friday, 6pm -10pm. These spots are utilized by local clubs giving them recurring access of 1-2 hours a week during our winter allocation season (Oct 1 – Apr 30th).

The artificial grass pitch has 91 available time slots a week with midweek daytime usage, peak time usage and weekend usage.

There is currently one school using the facility midweek each day between the hours of 9am-5pm – approx. 14 hours a week.

Sean Walsh Park artificial grass pitch is currently operating at around 50% capacity at the weekends between 9am-10pm with most usage taking place before 5pm. This percentage has been steadily rising since opening and SDCC believe that it will continue to increase. Weekends are available to be booked by any registered users on a first come first served basis.

With regards to promotion, we contacted local teams in advance of opening, we have posted all information on our website and have had our official opening featured in local print media and on social media. We are also registering new users by word-of-mouth recommendation.

We will be liaising with other Departments in SDCC in the coming weeks to promote summer usage of the pitch by advertising to local summer projects and sports camps. We are currently finalising our event application process as we have had a lot of interest in using the pitch for tournaments and other sporting events. Once these procedures have been finalised, we will advertise through our Communications unit.