The executive Committee of Croí Ró Naofa GAA club met this week to discuss the approval of the redevelopment plan of Killinarden Park. At the July meeting of South Dublin County Council, councillors approved the redevelopment of Killinarden Park. Whilst the club welcomes the redevelopment of Killinarden Park and the €2 million that has been allocated to redeveloped the park, the clubs executive Committee has some serious concerns with the redevelopment plan.
Croí Ró Naofa GAA club Executive Committee have stated “Our executive members have been to the forefront of the redevelopment plan since day one. We have asked SDCC since the start for a fenced in enclosed pitch. They have not delivered. As stated in a local newspaper on the 15th July, SDCC Director Ms Walsh said that ‘the council will continue to meet with Croí Ró Naofa members’. The council have not met with us in months. Politicians have not delivered. Several of our local representatives, have met us on many occasions. They said they would back our submission of a fenced in enclosed pitch, and they failed to do so.
We would like to thank Cllr. Richardson, Cllr Bailey and the Fine Gael group for supporting us. We feel that the current plan to elevate our pitch and put in a natural boundary will not work. Croí Ró Naofa GAA club have not been listened too. Currently we do not have a safe environment for the children and adults of the Killinarden parish to play Gaelic Games. The new redevelopment plan will not provide us with a safe environment. Every Saturday morning we need to have a Garda presence at our club academy.
We have been the only tenants in the park for a number of years. The councils current redevelopment plan will hinder the clubs 10 year development plan. Since 2018, we have endured 84 burnt out cars, daily excursions of scramblers and quads, broken glass around our goalposts and drug paraphernalia. No other GAA club on the island has had to deal with the problems we have had to deal with since 2018. We have played very few games at home in the last three years, in some cases the club has had to hire buses to bring juvenile teams to play matches away at great cost to our club. We have lost juvenile teams and mentors, to this anti-social behaviour and intimidation towards them.
The club has been part of the Killinarden community over the last twenty one years, bringing numerous children through the club. It was discussed last night the club may disband after twenty one years of serving our community as we don’t have a safe environment for children and adults to take part in Gaelic Games. At the end of the day Croí Ró Naofa want the park to be the hub of the community. We want the community to use the park. But we feel that the only way we can provide a safe environment for the children and adults of Killinarden to play Gaelic Games is a fenced in enclosed pitch. We will be seeking an urgent meeting with South Dublin County Council, Minister of Sport Catherine Martin T. D. and Minister of State of Sport Jack Chambers T. D. and all local politicians to discuss the issue and the future of Croí Ró Naofa GAA club.” concluded the Croí Ró Naofa GAA club Executive Committee.
