Waves of support for Forty Foot Campaign

MORE than 1000 people have signed an on-line petition calling on the Local Authority to buy a property overlooking the famous Forty Foot bathing place.

The Battery, a 3 bedroom house with panoramic sea views sits on the site of a former military installation dated circa 1800.

The 0.4 acre site straddles the Forty Foot and Sandycove Harbour and is metres from the James Joyce museum in the Martello Tower.

Previously owned by the State, it was sold to the current owners in the 1950’s. It is on sale through Lisneys with an asking price of 3 million euro.

The Love the Forty Foot Campaign says that this is a wonderful opportunity to return The Battery to public ownership, for the Council to acquire the space it needs to develop vital facilities and to preserve and protect our architectural and historical heritage as well as our environment.

Nicola Coleman, who started the petition, says that despite its international renown the famous bathing area lacks basic facilities such as toilets, showers, changing rooms, first aid stations and drinking water facilities.

She says Lifeguard facilities for the swimming areas are regarded as in need of improvement.

The Forty Foot and Sandycove are in use all year round by thousands of people from all over the city she says, and that as well as swimmers it is used by scuba divers, kayakers, walkers and ramblers, photography clubs, birdwatchers and nature lovers and it is kept clean and tidy by an active group of environmentalists.

She says that given this she is not surprised by the huge levels of support for the campaign.

The area is part of the UNESCO Dublin Bay Biosphere.

Ms Coleman says the bay at Sandycove is home to a seal colony where you can hear seals singing and frequently pups are left on the steps of the bathing areas when their mothers go to hunt.

She says this is an important ecosystem supporting flocks of visiting Brent Geese and Arctic Terns, that Gannets fish in the bay alongside Cormorants and Gulls that Oystercatchers and Stone Turns fish in rock pools and at twilight bats roosting in the walls nearby take flight.

She says the site could provide facilities for local marine environmental groups, citizen ecologists and even a facility to test the quality of the bathing water.

Elected representatives and the Council must take heed of the campaign which highlights an issue that is deeply and widely felt evident in the huge numbers who have signed the petition, she says.

Ms Coleman says that DLRCOCO must seize this once in a lifetime opportunity to return the Battery to public ownership and that agreement in principle to purchase the Battery can be done quickly and that and funding can be sourced from a variety of Government departments such as those with responsibility for Heritage, Culture, Tourism, Environment and Marine.

She says, Cathaoirleach of DLRCOCO, Mary Hannifin, a former Minister for Tourism will recognise the long-term value of this site and that she should use her expertise to make a compelling argument not only to her colleagues in the council chamber but also to her party colleagues in the Dail.

Nicola Coleman mentions that many politicians come to the Forty Foot to swim including former Taoiseach and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar who posed for photographers taking a Christmas dip.

She is calling on these same politicians to take immediate action to seal a deal that will improve the public realm, benefit the people and protect the environment.

She is calling on everyone who knows and loves the Forty Foot and Sandycove to sign the petition and support the campaign. www.change.org/buythebattery