Press Release – October 5th

In a statement, Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett, chairperson of the Save our Seafront group (SOS) has expressed relief that Dun Laoghaire –Rathdown Co. Council has finally put proposals for the redevelopment of Dun Laoghaire Baths before Councillors. 

The proposals were put before Councillors at a briefing meeting in the Council offices earlier this week (Oct 4th) , and included drawings and a minature model. 

The unveiling of the proposals follows protests organised by SOS over recent weeks at the failure of the Council to progress the redeveopment of the baths. 

The new proposals envisage a fully public amenity with a swimming pool, cafe, public viewing area and a walkway around the Baths joining Newtownsmith and the East pier. The proposals put also retain the existing  main baths pavillion and do not reach over the existing height of the baths building. 

Cllr Boyd Barrett said that the new plans represent a 180 – degree turn from previous schemes to build high-rise apartment blocks or reconstruct the entire seafront, and as such were a victory for the public and the Save Our Seafront campaign. 

There are some areas for concern in the proposals – particularly in terms of the envisaged breakwater around the baths that will extend to the east pier and planned changes to the rear entrance to the People’s Park. 

Cllr Boyd Barrett said, however, that the key was now to allow the public to have their say on the new proposals and that those public views should inform the final plan before work on the baths begins. 

The proposals are due to go on public display in the next few weeks. 

Cllr Boyd Barrett, chairperson of the Save Our Seafront group said: 

Members of the Save Our Seafront group (SOS) – the group that organised protests of thousands a number of years ago against plans to build apartments on the Dun Laoghaire Baths site – will campaign this weekend during the Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures, calling for action by the Council to restore the derelict baths as a public swimming amenity.

SOS campaigners, along with many local residents, are now very frustrated that it is five years since huge numbers of local residents marched on the Baths issue and yet, despite promises, still no action has been taken by the Council to restore the baths.

SOS will have a visible presence on Saturday and Sunday of the Festival near the baths, accompanied by a large banner saying: “Give us our baths now!” and intend to distribute thousands of leaflets to festival goers.

The SOS leaflets will also advertise a public meeting on the issue of the Baths that will take place the following week, on Wednesday July 26th at 7.30pm in the Kingston Hotel, on Dun Laoghaire’s seafront.

Families call on Minister For Health to intervene
On Thursday 22nd July the Save Cherry Orchard Hospital Campaign took their protest to the HSE main offices beside Heuston Station.

Management in Cherry Orchard have told family and community representatives that they intend permanently closing an 18 bed unit which houses patients with althziemers and dementia.

Families of current patients in the Laurel Unit have bitterly complained and protested that shifting their loved ones out of the environment that they have become familiar with will cause immense distress and upset. The families are also concerned that this will not be the last move that will be forced upon them.

The hospital have a staffing crisis every Summer and hide behind the recruitment embargo to force through cuts to the service. This time engaging four new nursing and care staff would resolve the staffing crisis in this unit and would ensure it could remain open.

Marie Dodrill whose husband lives in the Laurel Unit said "No way will I give the hospital permission to move my husband. This has become his home and is one of the best units in the hospital. We will fight to keep the Laurel Unit open and to keep every bed in Cherry Orchard Hospital. The families are calling on the Mary Hraney to get involved in sorting this problem out. This is not a big problem but it is having a huge impact on all the families involved."

BIN CHARGES & PRIVATISATION, PLANNED WATER CHARGES PART OF LONG-TERM AGENDA TO PRIVATISE ALL VITAL PUBLIC SERVICES

In a statement, Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) has said the announcement today by SIPTU that Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Council workers will strike against County Manager, Owen Keegan’s, plans to discontinue the Council bin service, were entirely justified.

PBPA said the Manager’s recent announcement of his plan to discontinue the service was the culmination of a long term campaign to privatise waste collection, which began with the introduction of bin taxes ten years ago.

PBPA said that the introduction of bin charges and the commercialisation of waste collection was rigged from the start to favour the private operators and now opened the way for the privatisation of water and other vital services.

PBPA said that private operator PANDA now had a virtual monopoly of waste collection in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, and that even if its charges were slightly lower currently, they would increase in years to come, as had happened everywhere else in the country.