COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 13, 2024

QUESTION NO.35

QUESTION: Councillor J. Sinnott

To ask the Chief Executive what plans are being considered in relation to the increasing number of waterlogged pitches and weekends where pitches cannot be used.

REPLY:

The Council’s Public Realm Section has in the past 5 to 7 years installed drainage systems on pitches in Tymon Park (4), Jobstown Park (1), Butler McGee Park (1), Clondalkin Park (1) and Ballymount Park (1).  These schemes have been funded through a combination of sports capital funding as well as council own capital and revenue resources, with other funding where available.   A further 4 pitches have received sports capital funding and these are under tender at present.  In addition to these another 10 pitches have been included in the current sports capital funding application and a decision is awaited on these.   The installation of such drainage schemes will improve waterlogging and playability issues on those pitches which require this level of intervention.  In addition to this the annual pitch maintenance programme includes aerating of pitches where this is considered necessary, these pitches are then top dressed with sand and fertilised as necessary.  An audit of pitches across the county has commenced to determine the medium to long term requirements in terms of pitch improvements in the county.  It is worth noting that the sports pitch strategy which was carried out in recent years identified the need to provide artificial grass pitches in the county which will not be affected by excessive rainfall. The roll-out of this programme is well under way with 2 No. Artificial Grass pitches delivered; a full GAA-sized Pitch at Airlie Park and a full soccer-sized pitch at Sean Walsh Park; and another 3 No. facilities are planned across the county.

Data available from Met Eireann shows that both 2024 to date and 2023 have been extremely wet periods when compared to long-term average (LTA) rainfall in Ireland.  Taking data from the nearest weather station at Baldonnell the average annual rainfall is 754mm.  Rainfall in 2023 at this location was recorded at 870mm (15% above the LTA) and in the 12 month period from May '23 to April '24 the recorded rainfall was 907mm (20% above the LTA).   The months of February, March and April of this year have been particularly wet with average rainfall being exceeded by 48% over those 3 months and this followed an extremely wet second half of 2023 where average rainfall was exceeded by 33%.  This left ground super-saturated and unable to carry heavy grass cutting machinery.  Every effort has been made to address this situation in recent weeks when weather improved and this involved in many cases cutting and lifting the grass, cutting the pitch again and then rolling the pitches to make them playable.