Because we all liked it the way it was ! And It was also a resource for locals in the D8 area who aren't students at the college; be they people from the flats, students from other colleges, unemployed, former drug addicts, you name it.

The short version: Land in the East Wall and Booterstown areas of Dublin is reserved for a hypothetical Eastern Bypass motorway (one with extremely negative environmental consequences). Dublin City Council want to rezone the East Wall land for housing. The Booterstown corridor could be used as a public transport corridor instead. But the Eastern Bypass' status in national planning documents means both of those critical needs are being blocked. We want the government and relevant authorities to change this by admitting that the Eastern Bypass is a permanently dead project, removing it from planning, and allowing the land to be used for something worthwhile. Long version: Dublin's Eastern Bypass was always a massive environmental issue — it is planned to be built across Sandymount Strand to provide an extension of the M50 motorway, for very limited benefit. The construction of this motorway is now also likely illegal under Irish government climate objectives and obligations, just as the 3rd Heathrow runway in the UK was recently declared to be illegal. Ireland is already likely to face fines because of our failure to reduce emissions, and the expansion of car usage is absolutely at odds with that target. The reserved space for the Eastern Bypass is also now blocking the construction of housing in Dublin city by preventing rezoning, as outlined in the Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/housing-plan-in-dublin-halted-to-facilitate-eastern-bypass-1.4189623 The Eastern Bypass is extremely unlikely to ever be built — the environmental consequences of the proposed road alone massively outweigh the very minor benefits it might bring to car drivers. It has been kicked around for 50 years with truly minimal progress. It is so politically, fiscally, environmentally, and socially toxic that it almost 100% guarantees no government will ever even try to build it. So why are we continuing to retain it in our plans and therefore stop the reserved land being freed up? That reserved land is, at this point, merely blocking other types of useful development to facilitate a dead project. Most outrageously, the reserved land is also preventing the construction of homes in a housing crisis (as seen in the Irish Times article linked above). Most of the reserved land on the Sandyford to Booterstown alignment would be absolutely ideal for use in constructing a high-quality rapid bus corridor (connecting the Luas and the DART), or providing the space for a Luas spur that could serve countless new homes and the students of UCD. The Irish government, Dublin City Council, and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council must immediately work to remove this outdated, unwanted project from their plans, and allow the land to be reused.

Due the shortage of secondary school places in Gorey

This project will cause the complete destruction of one of the most historical and environmentally important areas in Ireland. Our aim is to protect our beautiful community and the families living within it. We want to raise awareness and give the people a voice. We are not against renewable energy, however, we will not stand for the environmental and archaeological destruction Ireland's Ancient East. Our Main Concerns: Noise Pollution - The proposed turbines will tower a mere 500 meters from the front doors of local residents. The noise of turbines of such scale would be unbearable for the many families who have lived on the peaceful untouched hillside for generations. Flicker Effect - The flickering shadow cast by the sun shining through the moving turbines would affect houses all across the area over an estimated distance of up to 2km. Destruction of Historical Sites and Monuments - The proposed development site is not only home to a Stone Circle, a number of Ringforts, Cairns, a Mound Barrow and an Ogham Stone, but is also home to one of Ireland's oldest graveyards and resting place of Sam McAllister. Environmental Impact - The devastation caused in the past by the construction of these gigantic wind turbines in Scotland and Galway, to name a few, has had a detrimental effect on the local environment. Not only was visible damage inflicted on the landscape, but also irreparable damage to the source of natural water supplies, the effects of which are still ongoing. Property Devaluation - Properties in the area and the surrounding areas will severely suffer as a result of the destruction of our natural environment, making many houses unsaleable. We need your support to save Kilranelagh hill in the heart of the Garden of Ireland. These lands must be protected for our future generations. If we don't put a stop to this now who is to say where this will ever stop.

Time to end the wholesale lying to get elected and the voracious corruption once elected. We should be able to sack underperforming or misbehaving TDs.

We need a safe place for our children and adults to cycle on the road for commuting to school and work. This would also provide for recreational cycling and people to enjoy the coast in a safe and peaceful manner. At the moment there is no continuous safe cycling for people in DLR. Most people currently don't cycle due to the dangerous nature of the roads in DLR. This could provide an impetus for cycling with a link all the way from Booterstown to Sandycove. There's been talk of a cycleway along the coast for over 20 years and still no sign of it.

The traffic lights at Raheny village are anti-pedestrian and punish people who travel on foot - particularly older people, young children and people with disabilities. This must change immediately.

Plans have been mulled for years to try to keep everybody happy. But an apparent solution made public in May 2019 includes removal of rows of trees, narrowing footpaths, interfering with historic bridge walls, and even the removal of some existing pedestrian crossings. And for what? The draft plans show a route which is not continuous, leaves people cycling exposed at junctions, and looks too narrow for current demand in cycling. Often a lack of funding is given as a reason for delaying projects, but the Liffey Cycle Route has mainly suffered an issue with “politics of space” — mostly a fear of removing cars from parts of the quays despite international examples showing that this is the way to go.  This is as much about what kind of capital city Ireland wants as it is about cycling: A car-dominated city centre or enabling sustainable transport which is better for transport capacity, health, the local air quality, and even climate change -- which is better for local residents, business, workers and tourism.   Cycling has increased in Dublin in the last decade but the creation of safe and attractive cycle routes has remained stalled long after economic recovery while at the same time extra lanes have been added to motorways near the city. Rather then keep spending years of planning each route, Dublin needs to start a quick-build network and there's no better place to start than the quays which connects so much of the city. We are asking that city and national authorities go back to the previous plan of continuous two-way cycle path on the quays to at least trial it for 8-12 months and then ask if people want to go back to the way things are now. MORE DETAILS:  How a two-way cycle path on the north quays can be trialed -- Can Dublin #GreenTheQuays if it means disrupting car traffic?: https://irishcycle.com/2019/08/06/can-dublin-greenthequays-if-it-means-disrupting-car-traffic/ How the NTA’s plan for the Liffey Cycle Route is on the wrong path for Dublin’s future: https://irishcycle.com/2019/05/22/liffey-cycle-route-is-on-the-wrong-path-for-dublins-future/ ‬ ‬ Motor traffic around Dublin's River Liffey quays shocked international cycling experts https://irishcycle.com/2019/12/09/motor-traffic-around-dublins-river-liffey-quays-shocked-international-cycling-experts/ Liffey Cycle Route: Timeline and coverage: https://irishcycle.com/2019/12/10/liffey-cycle-route-timeline-and-coverage/

With an ever increasing population and heavier traffic on our roads, the current layout around the Monasterevin Schools is unacceptable. Every day, children are crossing roads that have no designated crossing. They are walking on the road because the footpath is unusable or non existent. They are using a junction that is too wide to cross safely with traffic coming from all directions. There are no signs to indicate a school. The current buildup of leaves is leading to ice like conditions on the roads and footpaths. The list of issues goes on and on.. Kildare County Council have refused to provide a traffic warden as recently as November 18th, and with the dark winter already upon us, our childrens lives are quite literally on the line. KCC have quite simply said no money will be spent on our childrens safety. With money widely spent across the county on traffic wardens and infrastructure, Monasterevin appears to once again be forgotten or deemed less important by Kildare County Council. We will NOT accept this. The School Road Safety Action Group, will continue to highlight this issue and will not relent until we are confident that our children can safely walk to school.

VERY IMPORTANT to stop this legislation by Minister Murphy as it will effect our ability to take a court case/ judicial review. Environmental groups outline shock at proposed planning Bill. Proposed legislative changes would make it almost impossible for citizens and environmental groups to challenge poor planning decisions in the courts. Ireland’s leading environmental coalition is shocked at the Minister for Housing’s attempt to introduce new planning legislation that would make it near impossible to challenge planning decisions in the courts and hold public authorities and the Government to account. The Environmental Pillar – a coalition of national environmental organisations – learned over the weekend of worrying developments with the Housing and Planning and Development Bill 2019 that is being brought forward by Minister Eoghan Murphy TD. In sum, the proposed Bill will add numerous challenging requirements and restrictions that will make it very hard for ordinary citizens and environmental NGOs to achieve the necessary “standing” to take cases. The changes proposed in the Bill would also add to the complexity of the court process and increases the risks of exposure to significant costs to those seeking to challenge bad planning decisions. This legislation would row back on major changes introduced just a few years ago to enable ordinary people, their organisations, and environmental NGOs to challenge bad environmental decisions. Those changes were already long overdue and necessary to comply with EU law and the Aarhus Convention. The Heads of the Bill sent to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Housing, Planning and Local Government last week are very blunt that the proposed changes are designed to make it more difficult to engage in the legal process and appears to favour developer’s interests at the cost of environmental rights. The most worrying aspects (some of which are further explored below) of the proposed Bill are: • Complete change to existing cost rules for environmental cases from a system where costs should “not be prohibitively expensive” to a cost cap rules system with court discretion. This exposes the public and eNGOs to much higher costs and uncertainty, ensuring that many will be dissuaded from bringing a case in the first place and makes it harder to engage lawyers • Change in standing rights requirements for applicants from “sufficient interest” to “substantial interest” and a requirement that they must be “directly affected by a proposed development” and “in a way which is peculiar or personal”. This is in addition to a new requirement that the applicant must have had prior participation in the planning process. • Extension of the minimum time that an NGO must be in existence before it can challenge a planning decision from 12 months to 3 years, thereby essentially ruling out newly established citizen-led NGOs concerned with local environmental issues from bringing challenges • Insertion of a new requirement that NGOs must have a minimum of 100 affiliated members, thereby ruling out the vast majority of Irish groups from bringing challenges. • Increased requirements for the “leave” stage (where you get court permission to challenge). The Heads of the Bill propose going back to the abandoned “on notice” system and adding to the tests and complexity of the leave – this adds to the costs, duration and difficulty of court proceedings. “This legislation would row back on major changes introduced just a few years ago to enable ordinary people and small but committed environmental NGOs to legally challenge bad environmental decisions, without fear of incurring eye-watering costs and extensive obstacles to accessing justice.” “The explanation for the Bill is blatant about making it harder to challenge decisions, with the Department arguing that challenges cause delays. It is bad decisions, and flawed legislation however, that are the real issue driving litigation in this country and this Bill does nothing to address that. “Given the context of costs in our Irish planning system, the size and nature of organisations and the costs in our courts, this Bill is an extermination of environmental democracy and oversight. It is particularly chilling that it comes at a time when environmental protection has never been more important, and citizens and groups are mobilising in a powerful Green Wave given the endless failures of this Government and administration.

15 Ushers Island was built for Joshua Pim, a grain merchant in 1760. In the 1890s it was the home of James Joyce's grand-aunts and was the setting of his short story 'The Dead'. It was used in 1987 by John Huston as the set for the film version (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_(1987_film). The house is of value to local residents, academics, scholars, tourists and future generations. It is of national and global cultural importance. Dublin City Council failed to purchase the house in 2017 when it was for sale. In 2021, the new owners applied for planning permission to convert the building into a 56-bed hostel. This resulted in an international outcry from thousands of people including authors Salman Rushdie, Sally Rooney, Colm Toibin and John Banville. At the time no subsequent action was taken by the council, to aquire the building through negotiations with the developer or otherwise. The council let their own heritage plan lapse after 2006 (https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/media/file-uploads/2018-05/dublin_city_heritage_plan_2002_2006.pdf_) until 2021 when campaigners for this house, made a written complaint about the absence of a working city heritage plan. The building is now, once again at risk of culturally inappropriate development into three studios and seven one-bed apartments. National Government must act now, to save the house of 'The Dead'. The building must be restored to good condition and national ownership as soon as possible. We the undersigned object to the granting of planning permission for ten apartments at 15 Ushers' Island.  We urge the Minister to urgently issue a Ministerial Circular* to either the Office of Public Works or the Chief Executive of Dublin City Council to aquire this building. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG) has responsibility for implementing the Urban Regeneration and Development Funds (URDF), which has an allocation of €2 billion in the National Development Plan (NDP) to 2030. In May this year, The Minister was yet to make a decision on URDF funding allocation criteria for 2024 (https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2024-05-21/364/#pq-answers-364). We the undersigned urge Minister O'Brien to proritise funding the purchase & renovation of vacant, derelict and at risk heritage buildings in urban areas like Dublin, for consideration in Call 4 of URDF allocations.  *An example of Ministerial Circular URDF 01/2023 issued on 30th January 2023  https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/245845/84bbd340-fea9-463f-bc45-eeeb9e2c95d1.pdf#page=null

Market traders are experiencing a number of difficulties in our working conditions. We are dismayed and disappointed at the negative response from the Council. It is clear to us that there is no appreciation or understanding of the importance and value of the market to the city. Severe flooding in Churchyard Street , where Galway Market is located, has become a worsening issue over the past few years and gullies regularly overflow on rainy days, resulting in dismal conditions for both traders and visitors. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the traders to protect their stock and to maintain a business. As well as the flooding issues, loose paving stones in the area are a trip hazard for traders and public alike. We recently discovered that the Galway market area is excluded from the upgrading of the city centre pedestrianised zone and there is no plans to resurface the area or carry out much needed repair work to clear overloaded drains. These drains are connected to the mains sewerage system and when they overflow, they are a very unsavoury health hazard to the traders and the public. Despite repeated requests to the City Manager we have been unable to obtain a meeting with him or senior officials to discuss our issues. We urgently need to address this issue, which has become not only a hindrance to business but also a matter of public safety. This is a video about the situation - https://youtu.be/03MdmAeW97M