ATTEMPTS BY the Catholic diocese of Dublin to have a church and lands in the north of the city zoned as residential are being opposed by local residents who say it violates an agreement made more than 30 years ago by the parish.
The Church of the Holy Trinity, Donaghmede, is one of 20 properties the St Laurence O’Toole Diocesan Trust, the holding body for all diocesan land in the city, is seeking to have rezoned in the new Dublin City Development Plan, which comes into force next year.
Labour TD Tommy Broughan described the Donaghmede application as “bizarre”, while his city council party colleague Seán Kenny said he was tabling a motion to refuse the application.
The local residents association said an agreement in place since the church was built in the 1970s guarantees that the land would remain as open space and cannot be used for residential or any other development.
A letter seen by The Irish Times, sent in October 1999 by parish priest Fr Louis O’Sullivan to Shay Coyne, chairman of the Grangemore Residents Association, confirms a 1976 agreement that the lands would remain as open space.
The letter followed the announcement in September 1999 of a plan by the parish to sell off some land surrounding the church to pay for refurbishment work.
The letter states: “We are not proceeding with the sale of our surplus lands because of a commitment made by Fr Joe Collins in 1976, of which neither the Diocesan authorities nor the present priests were aware.”
It adds: “The commitment made by Fr Collins was that the land surrounding the Church would remain as open space after the Church was built.”
Yesterday the Catholic Communications Office said the rezoning applications were made to address “a number of anomalies in existing city zoning which could restrict future use of parish lands”.
Any decisions regarding the actual use of parish lands and buildings rested with individual parishes the statement noted.
However, Mr Coyne said the only reason the land would need the zoning change would be to sell it and the residents association would be making a submission to Dublin City Council opposing the zoning application.
“It’s hard to believe this thing is back . . . We were made a promise in the 1970s, it came back again in the 1990s and now we have to defend our open space again,” Mr Coyne added.
