St. Anne/St Pauls Development - Public Meeting Tonight!

A public meeting will take place tonight, Thursday 16th November at 8 pm in relation to the proposed large-scale apartment/housing development on the St. Paul's playing fields off the main avenue of St. Anne's Park. 

The meeting is being hosted by Senator Aodhan O' Riordan and will be held at Raheny United Club House (beside Raheny Garda Station). 

The I Love St. Anne's Group who have been working hard on this campaign for over a year, have detailed information for anyone who may not be fully informed on this situation (from the I Love St Anne's Facebook page):

Dublin City Council are currently considering a planning application for:

- One full-size floodlit, synthetic pitch, up against the oak trees of the main avenue, on the existing grass pitches behind St. Paul’s school 

- One half size pitch on the exiting astro pitch behind the school and 

- A large sports hall overlooking and opening via a gate, onto the main avenue of St. Anne’s. 

These facilities are to replace the existing 15 acres of grass pitches currently available to the school and the community.

An Bord Pleanala meanwhile are considering the second part of this application, which is in a pre-planning stage under new ‘fast track’ strategic development legislation. 

This means that the developer and the City Council consult with An Bord Pleanala on what may or may not be an acceptable planning proposal. That proposal is then submitted to An Bord Pleanala for approval and the public have an opportunity to submit observations/objections. 

At the moment, the pre-planning proposal is for 432 apartments and 104 houses.

A decision is due on this pre-planning application shortly.

Currently zoned for community & institutional use (Z15), and heavily used by the community and the school, the St. Paul’s playing fields were acquired by the Vincentian Fathers of St. Paul’s from Dublin City Council in the 1950’s, to be used as school playing fields. It was never intended or indeed envisaged, that they would be built on.

While the lands no longer belong to Dublin City Council, they remain integral to St. Anne’s park. Any building here will have long-term catastrophic impacts on the park for plant life, wildlife and the citizens of Dublin who treasure this park. 

Given their sensitive location in the heart of St. Anne’s, their importance in the wider ecosystem of the park and the North Bull Island UNESCO designated biosphere, these lands will never be an appropriate location for residential development. I Love St. Anne’s will continue to oppose any proposal for the development of any kind on these lands.