10,000 signatures reached
To: Ministers Darragh O'Brien & Patrick O'Donovan, Eamonn Ryan, Catherine Martin.
Save The Iveagh Gardens
We call on the Government Ministers to carry out a thorough examination of the OPW's plan to 'transform' the protected Iveagh Gardens before millions of public money is spent on a plan that is in its very premise questionable.
Erasing extant protected heritage to facilitate the OPW's 're-imagining' of the past,
displays an out of touch arrogance and a cavalier engagement with what is a treasured city park.
The proposed new landscaping, is unsustainable in design and unsympathetic to the old extant Ninian Niven landscaping already in existence in the park.
We call on the OPW to engage in proper public consultation and to listen to the concerns of the thousands of people who have signed the petition against the development.
Why is this important?
The Iveagh Gardens are under threat – again.
Having let the last permission (2016) run out the OPW have once more applied for planning permission for their development in the Iveagh Gardens.
This new proposal is exactly the same as the last one but this time there is some more protection for some of the trees.
The basic premise of the proposal is to
'reimagine' the gardens back to how they were in 1865 by re-connecting the Iveagh Gardens with the NCH. In other words demolishing part of the wall, creating 'universal access' and an urban realm 'animated by diners..'
In order to impose their 're-invigoration of the Gardens' the OPW fails appreciate that they will be erasing a piece of extant heritage and destroying the character of a cherished city gem.
The plan ignores the fact that the Iveagh Gardens are catering to a vital need as a peaceful place of recreation in an urban landscape that offers very few opportunities for city dwellers to connect with nature
The proposal is out of date and the OPW need to go back to the drawing board.
The proposal consistently refers to the Dublin City Development plan of 2016- 2022 and ignores the aims and objectives of the Dublin City Development plan 2022-2028 and the EU biodiversity strategy 2030 which ' calls on all cities in the EU to protect and promote biodiversity'.
Biodiversity is one of the key objectives in the new DCC plan but this proposal, staggeringly, does not mention biodiversity once.
There is a wholly inadequate mention of bat protection during the 'site clearance' but zero recognition of the effect the site clearance will have on the bat and bird
population.
In the midst of a biodiversity crisis this is completely unacceptable.
We say leave the Iveagh Gardens intact.
Protect biodiversity. Protect our heritage.
Respect people's need for peaceful green spaces. Save the Iveagh Gardens!
Let's get this petition moving again!