COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 09, 2024

QUESTION NO.25

QUESTION: Councillor P. Gogarty

To ask the Chief Executive to provide a full list of pitches allocated to sports clubs in the County for the 2024/25 period?

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council provides over 1,750ha of parks and open spaces throughout the County. The larger parks, in particular, provide space for a wide range of active and passive recreation facilities including circa 173 playing pitches/sport facilities for various sporting clubs such as Gaelic Football, Hurling, Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, Rounder’s, Softball, Baseball, Athletic etc. The benefits of these facilities contribute to the Government’s vision of an active and healthy society. 

The allocation of playing pitches/sport facilities is granted on a year-to-year basis, subject to clubs undertaking to abide by the various Acts, Bye-Laws, etc. governing the use of County Council Parks and Open Spaces. South Dublin County Council Bye-Laws for the control and regulation of the use of Parks and Open Spaces and recreational playing grounds came into effect on 1st August 2011. A copy of the Bye-Laws are available here on the Council’s website https://www.sdcc.ie/en/download-it/publications/parks-and-open-spaces-bye-laws-2011.pdf

The pitch allocation for the 2024/2025 season is almost complete. There are currently 173 SDCC playing pitches to be allocated with 12 of these pitches currently unavailable for the 2024/2025 season due to pitch upgrades and maintenance. Therefore there are 161 pitches available for the 2024/2025 season. 

The Public Realm Administration team engaged with 104 clubs in relation to the allocation for the year ahead. 65 clubs submitted an application on behalf of over 1,500 teams. The Public Realm team have allocated 157 pitches to teams across the county to date. The remaining allocations will be completed very shortly once clubs have submitted correct insurance details and all other relevant documents.  Of these 65 clubs, 8 clubs had no allocation in the 2023/2024 season and an allocation has been provided for in the 2024/2025 season.

The Public Realm team have also engaged with clubs and leagues to facilitate pitch sharing where possible. This allows for optimal use of the pitches and facilitates a greater number of clubs where possible. 

For the 2024/2025 season, Public Realm Administration team have fully met the requested needs for 80% of the clubs who made an application. 20% of the clubs requests were partially met. No club was denied an allocation. 

Please find the link to the 2024/2025 SDCC allocation here: Allocation Breakdown By Pitch 2023 / 2024. For operational reasons, this list of allocations can be subject to change.