Councillors for the Central Area clashed at a meeting on 8 October, over proposals for sports facilities in the area.
Social Democrats Councillor Daniel Ennis criticised independent Councillor Malachy Steenson for pushing a new proposal for a sports complex, when he has been working with sporting groups for around two years on an existing plan.
Putting forward a new proposal just undermines that project, he said, at the meeting.
Like other parts of the city, groups in the north inner-city have been pressing for more sports facilities. There is currently no full-size football pitch in Dublin 1.
Ennis, who is also the vice chairman of East Wall Bessborough FC, has been working on plans to deliver an all-weather facility and sports complex on Alfie Byrne Road in East Wall. It would be shared by other football clubs in the area, he said.
Steenson has published a video imagining a different sports facility – with a swimming pool, sauna, martial arts gym, two astroturf football pitches, a running track, and podcast studio – on a council site on North Strand Road.
At the meeting, Ennis railed against the video. The idea “does nothing but undermine our project and undercuts our project to gain political traction for his ‘Says No’ movement”, he said.
Steenson – who has played a leadership role in the anti-immigrant East Wall Says No campaign – said he had every right to pitch his idea for the site. “Any councillor is entitled to put forward a proposal in relation to any potentially vacant site that is coming up.”
What’s planned there?
At the meeting, Ennis said that despite investment in the north inner-city through a government taskforce – and the wealth generated at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) – there is still no full-size football pitch in Dublin 1.
When children get to age 13 they have to travel to Fairview Park and pitches on the Alfie Byrne Road to play football, he says.
The pitches often aren’t playable in winter and some kids drop out, he said. “We are losing kids at 13,” he said.
Meanwhile some children in the area are being forced into criminality, said Ennis.
Sports clubs from the north inner city have come together to form a partnership and to create a vision for a sports facility for the north inner-city and East Wall, based at the Alfie Byrne Park in Fairview.
They want a shared astroturf pitch with a covered stand, a boxing club led by the Olympic boxer Emmet Brennan, changing rooms and indoor facilities for the existing motocross track, as well as a sensory playground for children with special needs.
Twelve sports organisations, community groups and schools are involved in the proposal for Alfie Byrne Road, said Ennis.
They have employed engineers and architects to come up with designs and have carried out geological surveys, he says. “This is not a flash in the pan,” he said. “We have engaged right throughout this process.”
Steenson’s proposed sports centre is 1km away.
Steenson’s video shows stock images of pools, one indoors and another an outdoor swimming pool. The astroturf pitches would be located on the roof, it says. There would be a martial arts gym, and a mirrored dance studio, it says.
“Independent Councillor Malachy Steenson is proposing a transformation of the North Strand Fire Station into a state-of-the-art sports facility, and trust me it’s a game changer,” says a narrator.
At the moment, the site – which is owned by Dublin City Council – is home to the North Strand Fire Station.
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said that Dublin Fire Brigade is planning to move to a newly built fire station on the Alfie Byrne Road. “The station is expected to be in operation in 2028.”
They didn’t respond directly to a query about what its plans are for the site, and whether it is considering a sports facility there.
The site is currently zoned for an “urban village” in the zoning maps for the Dublin City Development Plan. The designation allows for a mix of uses, including housing, offices, retail and dining.
Steenson said by phone on Tuesday that the proposed sports facility on the Alfie Byrne Road is outside the Central Area.
And his proposal is mostly focused on minority sports, including martial arts, he said.
“Soccer would be a minor part of it,” he said. “I think there are sufficient pitches. Fairview Park is full of pitches.”
Loads of money is spent in the inner-city area every year, he said, including through the North East Inner City Task Force, which spent €7.5m last year. But alot of that money is swallowed up in administration, he said.
“They haven’t solved a problem,” he says. “This is us saying this is what we need and this is what we want.”
Steenson says that estimates that the proposed sports complex would cost €10 million to €15 million to build and around €1m a year to run.
Last year, Donncha Ó Dúlaing, a council senior executive officer, said it would cost an estimated €40m to €48m to expand the leisure centre in Irishtown and add a swimming pool, pitches, and more.
Steenson said that the council should hire professional coaches to train people in boxing and martial arts. The problem in the inner-city is not money.”
Sure, his proposed public sports facility probably doesn’t exist anywhere else in Ireland, he says. But “just because it hasn’t been done before is not a reason not to do it. We’re prepared to spend billions on everything else.”
Steenson hasn’t approached any of the local sports clubs, he said. “We haven’t asked anybody to support it, we have put it out there for people to say yay or nay.”
Navigating the territory
Ennis said he will work with anyone to get better facilities for the area, he said, but he doesn’t think Steeson’s proposal is serious.
“It’s pie in the sky,” said Ennis. “It’s a cheap attempt to undercut what we are trying to do.”
At the 8 October meeting, he went further. “Sports will always be inclusive and hate will never penetrate those clubs,” said Ennis at the meeting.
Several other councillors called for all councillors to work together. “Leave the crap at the door, and let us all work together,” said Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam, who welcomed the effort to identify potential sites for pitches.
The site on North Strand Road would need to be rezoned in the city development plan if it were to be used as a sports facility, said McAdam, and the local area plan could do that.
Ennis said that sport should always bring people together. “Community is unity, sports by its very nature is inclusive.”
