Over 60 submissions on an application for an artificial soccer pitch in a south Dublin park have been received by the local planning authority.
Mount Merrion Youths' Football Club applied to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to convert a grass pitch in local 40-acre park Deerpark, off Glenabbey Road, to an all-weather pitch at a cost of €700,000.
The application includes a 10-foot high green fence around the pitch, with four entrance gates and eight 10-metre high floodlights. It is currently leased from the council by Mount Merrion Youths Football Club.
Park users opposed to the development are concerned that the enclosure of the pitch will amount to the privatisation of a public park and will ruin local views.
Caitríona Lawlor, chairwoman of Mount Merrion Residents' Association, said that if the plan goes ahead a quarter of the park's green space would be inaccessible.
Brendan Dillon, spokesman for Mount Merrion Youths' Football Club, said that for five weeks in a row before Christmas they had no matches because of weather conditions.
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Gerry Horkan suggested that an alternative site could be found for the enclosed pitch, such as on Stillorgan Heath. A spokeswoman for the council said that if planning permission is granted, a management licence will be put in place which will ensure the whole community has access to the facilities.
