“Lack of vision” from Council hurting Donabate says FG candidate

A Fine Gael local election candidate says that “a lack of vision” from Fingal County Council is “hurting” Donabate and surrounding communities. 

Eoghan Dockrell, who will stand for Fine Gael in June’s local elections in Rush Lusk, said that the granting of planning permission for large-scale housing developments should be conditional on adequate social infrastructure being built in conjunction.

“While I support the motion by local councillors for a cultural centre in Donabate, it will fall on deaf ears unless more pressure is put on Fingal County Council to take a balanced approach to planning how Donabate and Portrane are developed,” he said.

“There’s over 2,000 residential units in the pipeline for Donabate, yet there’s almost no planned provision of social infrastructure. Take the Corballis East development as an example. In this application, there’s a reference to over 1,000 residential units and provision for a small “community use unit” of approximately 91 sqm. Where’s the balance between meeting our housing needs and having adequate amenities for our residents?

Dockrell noted that the population of Donabate and Portrane is set to grow to 20,000 in the coming years, but there are few community spaces for local musicians, artists or actors to meet.

“For a population that’s set to grow rapidly, there’s only the parish hall and the community centre which is already full to capacity,” he noted.

“Many of our established cultural groups have no permanent home. Young people in the community have few facilities to use and this isn’t acceptable when you consider that over 40% of people in Donabate and Portrane are under 30.”

He referenced the Donabate Local Area Plan from 2016 which referred to supporting the provision of a cultural exhibition and performing arts centre, yet the plan has not been put into place.

“This local area plan was adopted in 2016. We’re eight years on and in 2024 there are still no concrete plans for the development of such a facility.”

“I’m calling on Fingal County Council to engage with cultural groups in Donabate and commit to locating a site for this cultural centre. The building of houses must be balanced with the supply of social and cultural infrastructure,” he said.