Hundreds of objections have been lodged against plans to build what would be the largest town in the State on an area of land which includes the old Dunsink landfill.
Approximately 420 objections have been lodged with Fingal Co Council against the council’s draft Dunsink Urban Area Plan, which aims to house 46,000 people in what is the largest undeveloped tract of land inside the confines of the M50 motorway.
The proposal seeks to develop the land beside Finglas, Ashtown, Castleknock, and Blanchardstown by building mostly apartment-style accommodation, in blocks of up to 15 stories, with 18,500 properties in all.
The objections came about amid staunch local opposition as Gript’s Dr Matt Treacy previously wrote.
Speaking to Gript, local Councillor Patrick Quinlan said, “People feel the consultation was a box-ticking exercise with very limited genuine engagement, particularly with the communities of Scribblestown, Valley Park, Dunsink Lane and the wider Finglas area who will live with the impacts every day.”
He pointed to St Joseph’s Horse and Pony Club, which he said had “Close to 100 members, mostly children, operating out of a former halting site on Dunsink Lane.”
“The adult members do absolutely fantastic work with children from right across Finglas,” he said, adding, “they were not mentioned once in the entire plan.”
The National Party councillor pointed to a local woman called ‘Kathleen’, saying her family has “lived on Dunsink Lane for generations”, adding she “wasn’t offered the decency of a visit before the plan went online.”
“This is not community engagement. This is community displacement,” he said, asking, “Who will actually live in Ireland’s newest city?”
Among the issues raised within the objections were concerns that disturbing the lands long used as a huge landfill would create health hazards due to the possibility of trapped gases being disturbed, an increase in traffic, concerns for the displacement of wildlife in the area, the potential loss of amenities, and density issues.
Scribblestown Residents Association voiced its concern, saying, “Closed landfills generate gases for decades after their closure,” and “Exposing decades of toxic chemicals and toxic waste into the local environment is a huge risk.”
Another submission expressed dissatisfaction at the idea of “building on top of a dump”.
One woman said “the proposed development of over 18,000 homes will place an unacceptable burden on an already overstretched road network”, while others said the residents of Finglas wanted to be left alone.
“I am disgusted at how this has been handled and rushed through with no consultation to any of the local communities affected. I am completely against any development of Dunsink as all trust has been lost with our local representatives. Fingal has just ignored the local community and thinks they can just push ahead with their plans regardless,” said another submission.
“Fingal will create Dublin’s biggest slum if this plan goes ahead, and I assure you the antisocial behaviour from this daft plan will all be directed westward by the Community of Finglas; we don’t want your slum next door,” a Finglas man wrote.
Councillor Quinlan told Gript that the concern he “heard repeatedly” was “who is this development actually for?”
“The plan still contains no clear tenure breakdown and no enforceable commitment that local Irish people will be able to buy or rent these homes. At that scale the question matters, especially if we are serious about tackling the housing crisis and making sure local Irish families can actually access housing built on their own doorstep,” he said.
“There is deep worry too about the impact on the natural environment and on wildlife corridors,” he added.
“There is strong opposition to high-rise blocks towering over the existing low-rise communities of Scribblestown and Valley Park, and serious health and safety concerns about building so close to the former Dunsink landfill.”
“People want homes. They want a plan that answers the basic questions first,” he said, asking what will happen to “the wildlife the State says will be lost?”
He asked why Fingal County Council was “dumping a city on Finglas, years after it dumped a landfill on them?”
“We look forward to taking the chief executives’ report apart piece by piece, and we expect ample opportunity to do so ahead of any special council meeting,” he said.