South Dublin County Council received a prestigious Green Flag Award for Corkagh Park this year for 2017/2018.
The Green Flag Award is an international quality benchmark that recognises and rewards the provision of high quality parks and green spaces. Starting in the UK and currently established in more than 50 countries, the award scheme is administered in the Republic of Ireland by An Taisce. Corkagh Park is one of 36 public parks from across the country to achieve a Green Flag Award in 2017. Parks are judged against acknowledged international best practice and standards on a number of criteria including cleanliness, horticultural standards, community involvement, sustainability, conservation and providing a warm welcome to users and visitors.
The Mayor of South Dublin County Council, Cllr Paul Gogarty, hoisted the flag. Prior to raising the Green Flag, he gave a short speech, including the following:
“Today I am going to raise the Green Flag, which is a prestigious award won by Corkagh Park. The Green Flag Award is a highly regarded international benchmark that recognises and rewards the provision of high quality parks and green spaces. Established in more than 50 countries, the award scheme is managed here in the Republic of Ireland by An Taisce. It rates the management of parks by local authorities across criteria including safety, cleanliness, conservation, sustainability and community involvement. Corkagh Park is one of 36 public parks from across the country to achieve a Green Flag award in 2017. This is the first time a park in South Dublin County has received a green flag award and so it’s a highly significant event. It demonstrates how much care and effort the staff put into maintaining the park and how much the local community uses and appreciates the park. Corkagh Park is 300 acres in size and one of our largest parks in this County. There are so many amenities and facilities here, including GAA and soccer pitches, the lakes, woodlands, lots of walking routes, along with things that you don’t usually find in parks such as the international cycle race track, the caravan park, the pet farm, the beautiful rose garden, cricket field and even baseball pitches. Corkagh Park is not widely known outside of the Clondalkin area, but that is slowly changing as more development is taking place and the local communities are becoming more populated. More people need access to green space and nature as well as to get that access more often, to relax and connect with nature, play sport, appreciate wildlife and grow their own food in the allotments. Corkagh Park offers opportunities for all of the above activities. Sustainability is one of the criteria in the judging of the award and Corkagh Park uses sustainable methods where possible, which is becoming increasingly important. The Green Flag award is therefore a great tribute to the commitment of the staff of Corkagh Park, some of whom are working here for over 30 years. May it inspire more appreciation of all that our parks offer in local users and hopefully South Dublin County will achieve more Green Flag awards for our other many wonderful parks in the near future”.
The Green Flag is now up and flying at the Green Isle Road entrance to the park, adjacent to Camac Caravan and Camp Site and is highly visible from the N7.
This award has encouraged all members of Parks/Public Realm staff to sustain the high standards of maintenance and development of our SDCC parks and also to endeavor to attain more green flags for other parks in the County in the future. Credit goes to those staff members who maintain and develop our parks and also to the staff who wrote the submission for entry into the Green Flag Award competition.
