A number of people have contacted me regarding a negative anonymous letter being distributed in the Dublin Bay North area in relation to my position on lands in St. Anne’s Park.
The facts of the situation are as follows:
In the 1999 City Development Plan, the St. Paul’s Playing Pitches lands, in common with most institutional lands in the city, were zoned Z15 (Community and Institutional Resource Lands) for the first time i.e. ‘to provide for institutional and community uses’. As I understand it, the Z15 classification was introduced to move residential uses from being ‘permissible’ in previous development plans to ‘open for consideration’, in order to safeguard the environmental amenities associated with such lands.
There have been no proposals to rezone these lands since.
Separately, in relation to the former St Paul’s Swimming Pool lands, there have been a number of efforts by various stakeholders to rezone these lands from Z15 to Z1 – Residential.
I have resisted all such rezoning efforts including a proposal from the Dublin City Manager in 2013. I did this on the basis that Z15 offers a higher standard of protection for lands from wholesale redevelopment including requirements to provide Masterplans and the provision of significant amounts of public open space.
My position is a matter of public record.
I have referred the anonymous letter to An Garda Siochána in Clontarf and they are investigating with a view to determining if an offence has been committed.
Finally, I want to thank all the local residents who contacted both me and Fine Gael HQ to express their shock at such a letter being circulated.
–ENDS–
