The Save Clondalkin Convent Campaign’s candlelight vigil will take place on Saturday 7th December 2019 at 7.15pm at Fr Moore’s Arch (New Road entrance to the convent and church).
Save Clondalkin Convent Campaign continue their campaign. They will host a candlelight vigil in the grounds of The Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Killian in the heart of Clondalkin village on December 7th at 7:15 pm. All welcome to come along, bring candles, friends and family. December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the title of the parish church.
On 19th November An Bord Pleanala granted permission to the Presentation Order and Bartra to build a 155 bedroomed commercial nursing home and a 14 bedroomed retirement home for the nuns beside and attached to our iconic 19th century convent. Bartra will own the new buildings, all the land and the convent itself. The convent interior, reputedly unchanged since 1857, will be converted to accommodate 140 permanent staff.
Many local people feel dismayed and angry. The land for the commercial nursing home has been a playing ground for local schoolchildren for many years. The development will do away with a long-established right-of-way, a safe way for generations of schoolchildren from the adjacent schools to attend religious services in the church, and by families bringing their children to the schools. Some of the new building’s windows directly overlook classroom windows, loss of natural habitat for swifts and bats – these are concerns that people say are causing their dismay and anger. People also wonder why yet another nursing home is needed in the area, where a new 92 bedroomed facility is being built in the village, and another one – even larger – has been given planning permission across the road from the convent itself. Clondalkin will have three commercial nursing homes within a half mile radius.
Save Clondalkin Convent campaigners have carried out extensive research. They continue to raise respectful doubts about the ownership of the convent and the land.
Follow the campaign on https://www.facebook.com/saveclondalkinconvent/
