News
Property developers attempt to reverse St. Edmundsbury decision
Despite South Dublin councillors recently voting down the proposal to rezone land at St Edmundsbury, as well as over 1,600 submissions being made by the public in opposition, private property developers are trying to have the decision reversed.
The land, owned by billionaire businessmen John Magnier and JP McManus, should be protected to accommodate a Liffey Valley Park. Such a major publicly-accessible recreational resource would benefit the people of west Dublin, the people of the surrounding counties, and the people of Ireland as a whole, according to David Gardiner, Workers' Party representative for Palmerstown-Fonthill.
Gardiner said: “In a statement to The Irish Times, developer Michael O'Flynn of The O'Flynn Group (described as ‘development partners of McManus and Magnier') said that blocking the rezoning was ‘unconscionable’ as a result of the housing crisis. It is a red herring, more than a bit rich, and frankly an insult to people's intelligence to suggest that property developers are genuinely concerned with tackling the housing crisis. They are the self-interested beneficiaries of it, and they know that they serve to gain millions or more at the expense of struggling working people from rezoning the land. This is not a solution to the housing crisis, it is the housing crisis. Only the mass construction of mixed-income and universally-accessible public housing can provide genuinely affordable and high-quality housing at the scale that it is needed.”
“O'Flynn also noted that the land in the Liffey Valley is ‘private’ and that access to the land is presently ‘unauthorised’. Not only should access to the public continue uninterrupted in the interim, but rather than being an asset on the property portfolio of billionaires, it should ultimately be taken into the ownership of the state for the benefit of the public."
“It is clear from the submissions made that a majority of people wish to see the area preserved. As noted by The Irish Times, most submissions said that the lands should ‘form part of a Liffey Valley park which had been proposed by the Office of Public Works 20 years ago.’ This is something that people in west Dublin, including the late Workers’ Party TD Tomás Mac Giolla, have been calling for for decades. Combined with county councillors voting to oppose the rezoning, it could hardly be any clearer to see the democratic will of the people. The view of the public should not be disregarded for the benefit of private greed.”
“St. Edmundsbury must be included in the creation of a wider project to protect and expand access to the Liffey Valley as a major recreational resource.”