Members of the community marched to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre’s bus hub earlier today and created a halt to traffic in a bid to “fight for their area”.
Locals are unhappy with the planned changes, which includes the removal of the roundabout outside Our Lady of the Assumption Church.
The Dublin Bus 79 route has been removed and plans are in place for a new BusConnects service. Locals say they are already suffering and they are expecting more changes as bus routes and times have been changed.
Parking is also set to be removed on the Main Street to make room for the new project.
Locals believe the impact of these changes in Ballyfermot are significant, and many residents feel the changes will be to the detriment of the community, businesses, history and heritage.
Gerard Ryan, who is the owner of Centra in Ballyfermot, said the change is going to devastate the community.
“We’re here to protest against the NTA plans for the BusConnects route through Ballyfermot. I’ve been in business in Ballyfermot for 20 years and I haven’t heard anything from the NTA regarding consultations,” he told the Irish Independent.
“In 2020 the Covid pandemic struck, so we weren’t allowed to meet. In Ballyfermot, we all want enhancement and improvement, but the NTA have ploughed through these plans that are going to devastate our community.
“If they go ahead with these plans, there’ll be no inward investment, there’ll be no inward development for Ballyfermot. We only have one strip of shops, that’s our community. This is going to set Ballyfermot back into the seventies.
“The NTA plans to take all of the parking away from the front of it. The shops on that strip rely on parking so you can run in, do your few bits and leave, if they take that away I don’t see a future for us.”
Des Shields, who owns Jackies Florist with his wife on Ballyfermot Road, highlighted that the community will suffer in many ways if the project goes ahead.
“The plan at the moment is of no benefit to Ballyfermot, we want a change in the plans. This could most definitely contribute to getting rid of the community. Five-minute journeys will become 20 minutes long, for going to the shops, going to schools because they can’t go through the roundabout. The whole place is going to be a shambles.
“It’ll take between two and a half to four years to complete; all the disruption will be for everyone in Ballyfermot. There’ll be two to six hours of electricity cuts for us, they plan to take away the gardens from 15 families. It was ill thought out.
“Back in the seventies, when we were on street committees trying to deal with corporations, they were like ‘you’re just from Ballyfermot, what do you know?’ They just ignored us because we were from Ballyfermot.
“I feel it’s the same with these guys, as far as they’re concerned, we know nothing, but we do, we know a lot, we know about our community and we’re going to fight for it. I was born and reared in Ballyfermot, my wife was born and reared in Ballyfermot, we have to fight for it.”
Independent councillor for Ballyfermot-Drimnagh Vincent Jackson siad that it’s not just the people of Ballyfermot who will suffer, as he predicts the project will have a knock-on effect in surrounding areas.
“The NTA are putting a bus corridor through Ballyfermot without considering the people. All too often these things happen without real consultation.
“A lot of the buses redirected now, when they get to Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard, they’re nearly already full. They’re on their way to town so people in Inchicore, Kilmainham and James’ Street all suffer as well. We need more public transport, but it needs to provide increased frequencies and an increased level of service.
“We believe buses are needed to bring people in and out of the city, we know they need a higher priority than the motorists but what they’re proposing to do is to cut Ballyfermot in two and stop people being able to get around the community where they were able to get around before. If they’re going to the church or the shops, you’ll have to do a 2km detour.
“We want realistic consultation. We’re not happy about the proposal to remove the roundabout in Ballyfermot, it’s an iconic feature, it’s the heart of our community.
“People say ‘you know the big roundabout near the church,’ directions are given from there. People in the city would say ‘you know the Spire at the top of O’Connell Street,’ the roundabout is our version of the Spire.
“People are not happy with what’s being proposed. Already, some of the bus changes, we lost the 79 and the 60 bus, it used to be every 15 minutes, it’s one an hour now.
“People feel badly treated, in the autumn years of their life, the connectivity they had, the sense of security being able to get up and down to the shops, to the church, to the Civic Centre, all the social services, we need that.”
People Before Profit Councillor Hazel de Nortúin added that the NTA needs to consult with the public before going ahead with the plan.
“The NTA came in and said this is exactly what you need rather than listening to what people want and how they use their public transport system. We want them to speak to us, listen to us, we’re not that scary. We want to explain how the system works, how our community works.
“They removed the 79 route, leaving elderly people and school children at home unable to access a reliable system.
“There’s a lot of what ifs and what’s going to happen. We’re empowered now, we’ve got to fight tooth and nail for everything we have in Ballyfermot. This has to stop.
“A resident, Ms McGuinness is 98 this year. She said she used to get the bus down to the church and have a ramble in the shops, but she can’t anymore.
“The bus service was reliable, every 20 minutes, now it’s every hour, and it doesn’t show up sometimes on that hour. Elderly people, those with arthritis, can’t make that journey and they’re left in their homes. It’s created isolation and that’s the hardest part coming out of Covid.”
A spokesperson for the National Transport Authority (NTA) said: “The Liffey Valley to City Centre Core Bus Corridor Scheme forms part of the major infrastructure element of the overall BusConnects Programme.
“It runs from the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre to Dublin City Centre via Ballyfermot, Inchicore, Kilmainham and Thomas Street/James Street.
“It will provide significant transport improvements in the form of upgraded bus priority, which will greatly improve both the reliability and journey times for buses along the route.
“There is an opportunity for collaboration between the NTA, businesses and residents to develop the final scheme details in a manner that enhances the public realm areas along Ballyfermot Road.
“NTA met with a number of local public representatives two weeks ago and has committed to a follow up meeting with key community members.
“It is worth noting there were three rounds of non-statutory public consultation conducted during 2019 and 2020, which included engagement in the form of Community Forums, local public information events and meetings with individual residents’ groups.
“[Planning] consent was received from An Bord Pleanála for the BusConnects project on December 19, 2023.
“There was a two-month period during which An Bord Pleanála’s decision could be appealed. No such appeals were submitted during this period.
“It is expected that the Scheme will bring significant benefits to businesses and residents along the route in the form of much improved bus, cycling and walking infrastructure, including those in Ballyfermot.”
