After rejecting the proposal to rezone land at St. Edmundsbury, South Dublin County Council should expand access to the Liffey Valley, according to David Gardiner, Workers’ Party representative for Palmerstown-Fonthill.

Gardiner said: “The decision made by South Dublin County Council to protect the lands at St. Edmundsbury was the correct one. The Liffey Valley should act as a major natural recreational resource for the people of Dublin and the people of Ireland, not as something for private interests to profit from.”

“Rather than entertaining the whims of private profiteers, the council and other stakeholders should act now to expand access to the Liffey Valley. One method of doing so would be to rebuild the Silver Bridge at Waterstown Park. Ultimately this should be part of a larger Liffey Valley greenway.”

“The argument that rezoning the site is necessary owing to the housing crisis is all smoke and mirrors. There’s no reason why working people should accept unaffordable homes and the destruction of the Liffey Valley as some sort of half-baked solution.”

“Hand in hand with their friends in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, private developers and landlords have caused this crisis. Why would we ever trust them to solve something that they have designed and profit from? It will only be resolved by the mass-scale construction of public housing by the state.”

“The council is yet to decide on whether or not it will rezone the nearby Dublin City Services Sports & Social Club, otherwise known as the Coldcut Club. Similar to what has been rejected at St. Edmundsbury, such a proposal only serves to benefit private developers at the expense of communities. We hope to see this site secured and expanded upon too as a sporting and recreational resource.”