YOUR COMMUNITY UPDATE – OCTOBER 2021

The leaves are falling off the trees and autumn is well and truly here! I hope that you and your family are keeping safe and well, and that if you have any trick-or-treaters in your house, that they fared well last week! There has been plenty of activity – we saw the opening of the Teenspace in Collinstown Park and the wonderful Halloween Festival in Waterstown Park.

I am continuing my weekly walkabouts to meet with people in our area, including visits to Moorfield and Liffey Valley Park. This monthly update gives you an overview of work I’ve been doing on your behalf. In the meantime, if you would like to discuss anything in the newsletter or would like help or advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Tabhair aire!

Shane

Cluain Rí Park & Ballyowen Lane clean-up

I was very proud to participate in our first community clean-up of Ballyowen Lane a few weeks back. Thanks to the volunteers who turned up. The lane and park certainly look much more improved. We will do this on a regular basis. If you’d be interested in helping out, no matter for how long, please let me know! I was also recently updated on improved works for Cluain Rí Park at today’s Area Committee Meeting. This followed a motion I put down last month requesting improvement works for the area. These works are currently underway and will play a huge role, I hope, in reducing the prevalence of anti-social behaviour in the area.

Leaf sweeping

South Dublin County Council has contracted Oxigen to collect leaves from roads or footpaths in our area. They have made a huge difference to estates and roads in Palmerstown, Lucan and Clondalkin over the past few weeks. Get in touch if you would like me to request a visit to your road.

Griffeen Skate Park Lights

The Griffeen Skate Park is such a great facility for our young people. That’s why it’s important that it’s lit up during the winter months. I’ve asked the Council to look at the lighting sequence to make sure it is lit up during the dark evenings. I’ll continue to pursue this until the lighting is on an appropriate sequence.

Council Meeting Update

The October meeting of South Dublin County Council took place earlier this month. Among the items covered were the capital programme update (including the opening of Lucan Swimming Pool in 2022), disposal services for electrical goods, planning enforcement and the County Arts Strategy. You can learn more here, and watch the vide directly below.

Area Committee Meeting Update

We also held the October meeting of the Lucan, Palmerstown and North Clondalkin Area Committee meeting and you can view my video update here. Among the items I raised were the vacant and derelict homes in the area, the need to address drug dealing in parts of our area and the need to improve responsiveness and speed of dealing with planning enforcement matters. If there are things you would like me to raise, please let me know.

Bus Connects

Residents have been querying the purpose of the the new bus stops being set on Ballyowen Road/St Loman’s Road/Willsbrook Road. These will form part of the new bus routes which are part of the Bus Connects Scheme for Lucan & Palmerstown which will be rolled out in November. Public representatives will receive a full briefing on routes and frequencies in the coming weeks and I will post a full update when I have it. In the meantime, you can view the area maps for Lucan and Liffey Valley/Palmerstown.

Mount Andrew Boundary Wall

When I was elected, I made a commitment to address the need to resolve the ongoing issue relating to the boundary breaches between Mount Andrew and St Edmunds. I have been working on this behind the scenes for the past few months and I brought a motion directing different departments in the Council to come together to resolve this matter. I am pleased that I got a commitment from Council management that they will bring forward a recommendation for resolution and repair by December’s Area Committee meeting. This has been a long-running issue for local residents and I will continue to pursue it until resolved.

Derelict and vacant homes

County councils play an important role in monitoring the number of derelict sites and buildings. However, only 35 such sites were inspected in Lucan, Palmerstown and North Clondalkin since 2020. I have consistently raised the need to make sure vacant properties are addressed, whether they be Council-owned or not. Thanks to the Echo for covering my work on this. I will continue to highlight the need to address it.  If you are aware of derelict sites or vacant houses, please get in touch.

Hedge-cutting

South Dublin County Council’s hedge trimming schedule begins in October. I have raised and will continue to raise footpaths and cycle lanes which need attention, across Palmerstown, Lucan and Clondalkin. As we encourage more people to walk or cycle, we need to make sure that our footpaths and cycle lanes are fit for purpose. Let me know if you spot any brambles or hedging which are causing obstruction.

Footpath repair in Palmerstown-Fonthill

Following representations made by residents, and having spoken to people on my regular walkabouts, I am campaigning hard to have various locations in Palmerstown-Fonthill being added to the footpath repair programme for next year, including Liffey Valley Park, Glenaulin Green, Oakcourt and Glenaulin Road (including the approach to Glenaulin Park). We have seen great progress in repairing footpaths across Palmerstown-Fonthill and I am keen to see it continue. I also continue to highlight the need to complete. the repair programme from last year.

Coding classes in North Clondalkin Library

I am delighted to see that North Clondalkin Library is offering offer free courses in coding in November. There may be some spaces left – check out this link for more details or call 01-4149269!

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