Dun Laoghaire Thread. No traffic, commuting, transport chat.

markpb · 15-09-2021 10:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892311#Comment_117892311

They are amazing toilets to be fair. The reviews on TripAdvisor and AirBnB are right!

Mav11 · 15-09-2021 10:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117893662#Comment_117893662

For €40m its the least you'd expect! That's a lot of pennies!!!

bodgerfederer · 16-09-2021 12:10pm

Does anyone know what is going on with the small bmx style bike track by Meadowvale? Fences have appeared around it. Kids are still getting in but maybe they're not meant to.

Would be a terrible shame if this new facility is to be removed.

16-09-2021 12:21pm

Its a terrible shame too that we have so few public tennis courts that children and teens can use without paying out membership to private clubs.

I was in Germany recently and there were tennis courts every few miles with people playing on them.

Is there any public tennis courts in Dunlaoghaire that people can just turn up too and play on. I know there are courts in Clarinda Park but they are hard surface, I cant think of any other ones.

Also is there anywhere people can play outdoor table tennis.

josip · 16-09-2021 12:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898973#Comment_117898973

As far as I know the tarmac courts in Cluny Park are publicly accessible.

There are 2 in Kilbogget also, but I don't know if they have nets.

One problem with publicly accessible facilities is that there's a sufficient number of <insert favourite term here> in every area to make tennis courts impractical. All infrastructure has to be vandal and dickhead-proof.

The Res in Ballinclea has an outdoor table tennis table.

https://goo.gl/maps/zc9mKjgKHyHFyJcS6

bodgerfederer · 16-09-2021 1:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898973#Comment_117898973

i couldn't agree more and have made the point to all local councillors recently.

European parks tend to be full of tennis courts, table tennis, multi sports astro pitches etc. we have so much open green space in parks in locality and we're very lucky for that. but it is just largely open green pitches. during lockdown there were actually queues of people waiting to use the dilapidated handball wall in Rockfield park. Every kid in Dun Laoghaire was crammed into the Honey park concrete sports pitch as it was the only 5 aside and basketball court accessible.

Larbre34 · 16-09-2021 1:51pm

Somebody was definitely trolling in DLRCC when they designed the jetty on which to erect the statue of well known homosexual Roger Casement. Access from um, Queens Road!

Homesick Alien · 16-09-2021 3:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898973#Comment_117898973

What do you mean "but they are hard surface"? What else could you expect for a public court? Grass?!

While I'd be happy to see more tennis courts I was surprised how little use the clarinda ones were getting. Anytime I went to use them there was always at least one court free. I'd say there just isn't the demand.

16-09-2021 4:13pm

Most tennis courts have a synthetic surface and seeing as the taxpayer funded a library to the tune of 40 million euros then surely DLRCC could provide a few public tennis courts in the various parks.

Clarinda is a tarmacadam court as far as I remember. I play a lot of tennis and havent played on anything like that surface anywhere, think its a cheap low maintenance job.

Many Dunlaoghaire residents would be members of private tennis clubs and used to playing on nice tennis courts. This might explain why there isnt much activity in Clarinda but you shouldnt use this as evidence that tennis courts in other locations wouldnt be used.

JayRoc · 16-09-2021 6:24pm

Tbh I'd rather have seen some of that 40 million go to, say, Monkstown Boxing Club...the conditions those lads have had to put up with over the years is ridiculous.

To be perfectly honest I had no idea there was such a thing as a public tennis court.

josip · 16-09-2021 6:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117900209#Comment_117900209

Can you be more specific about "the few public tennis courts in the various parks".

Which parks and how many tennis courts per park? Would they be supervised or unsupervised?

Assuming they'd be fenced in to protect the surface and nets, what would their opening hours be?

Would council employees or subcontractors look after the locking and unlocking of them?

How would you handle complaints from locals that all the money spent on them was wasted because they're not open in the evening time.

Ow would you have them open in the evening time? Again, supervised/unsupervised?

Do you think the lads who doughnutted the Cabo pitches last year would take an interest in them?

Or the lads who set fire to the surface in Shanganagh MUGA playground?

What would your budget for this be? To the nearest million will be fine.

bodgerfederer · 16-09-2021 6:39pm

I think my point would be that there’s plenty of money to do both.

It would cost approx 150k to screed and resurface clarinda with a synthetic surface.

That’s not too much in the context of 40million.

The Bmx bike track at Meadowvale is another perfect example of an inexpensive improvement to promote sport. I don’t know what it costs to have a man and a jcb for 2 days but it can’t be much.

a concrete table tennis setup? A couple of grand?

handball walls should be everywhere too. (I don’t understand why handball is not more popular, but anyway a wall works for whatever ball sport you’re into).

imo every open park in dublin should have all or at least some of these things.

josip · 16-09-2021 9:38pm

Concrete Table Tennis Table - A couple of grand?

First one I found was 4 and half grand

Ex VAT and delivery

https://www.completeleisure.ie/jpl/butterfly-b2000-standard-concrete-table-tennis-table.html

I assume there are cheaper ones out there.

But on top of that you've got site preparation and installation

Do councils need planning permission to install structures in parks?

16-09-2021 9:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117900838#Comment_117900838

Could we maybe send some Parks people to Germany and Spain to ask how they manage to provide free/ low cost sports facilities to the public.

I dont run the Parks Department so pointless putting your questions to me.

I spent summer holidays playing tennis in St Annes Park in Raheny, we put a few coins in a box and accessed the courts, this was thirty years ago, imagine the local authority could organise this then but cant now.

josip · 16-09-2021 10:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901524#Comment_117901524

St Annes Park is on a different scale to anything in Dun Laoghaire.

16-09-2021 10:54pm

The courts were in a corner of St Annes,five or six tennis courts doesnt take up a huge amount of space.

There is plenty of room in Marlay Park or Cabinteely Park for tennis courts and the playgrounds seem to survive the marauding gangs you talk about.

We hand over millions of Euros to the GAA every year and spend so little on other sports, its so inequitable.

Larbre34 · 16-09-2021 11:06pm

There ARE six public tennis courts in Marlay Park and six more in Meadowvale, five minutes from Cabinteely Park. What do you want, one rolled out on the street outside your gaff?

Homesick Alien · 16-09-2021 11:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901841#Comment_117901841

You really are relentless. Wonder what you'll move on to next.

Yes those expensive private clubs have expensive synthetic surfaces which are expensive to maintain. I'm sorry that the available free public courts are not to your standard. But it seems nothing is.

jackal · 16-09-2021 11:30pm

Most clubs are cheaper than you might expect, and that money goes towards floodlights, as it’s dark after 5 for half the year, a clubhouse, maintaining and renewing the things that wear out, and playing in competitions, social events etc. My club nearby to Dun Laoghaire costs €140 a year and is an absolute bargain for that. A public tennis court is a great idea but they are a maintenance headache. I agree there is a need for both though, and if it’s hard courts so be it, great for a knockabout and kids learning etc.

Seaswimmer · 17-09-2021 7:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901891#Comment_117901891

I am not sure the ones in Meadowvale are public but I could be wrong.

Seaswimmer · 17-09-2021 7:35am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117900861#Comment_117900861

The bike track in Meadowevale isn't technically a bike track. It was petitioned for by locals as a "natural structure and imaginative play area" and not exclusively for bikes. There have been I believe incidences of people being told to "get off the bike track". Maybe a few well positioned signs advertising the fact that it is not exclusively a bike track would help..

Alias G · 17-09-2021 8:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902297#Comment_117902297

Regardless of what was petutioned for, its is irrrefutably a pump track for bicycles that has been installed at meadowvale. Unless further development is to commence a pump track is all it will ever be.

bodgerfederer · 17-09-2021 9:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901891#Comment_117901891

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901905#Comment_117901905

the tennis courts at meadowvale are a strange one - the ground is owned by the council and leased to the club. in theory you can pay to play on an ad hoc basis between 9-5 but as the council do not provide staff to let people in and out and take their money this does not happen (as @josip points out above).

i think your previous run ins with taximan are blinding you from seeing that he makes a fair point.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902297#Comment_117902297

if it looks like a bike track, rides like a bike track....it's a bike track. i'll have to admit i'm biased - my boy races bmx and having this little track so nearby has been fantastic. you should come down and explain to him that it's not a bike track...😉

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901493#Comment_117901493

Apologies, i was being a bit throwaway when i said a couple of grand. still not huge money though.

https://www.oksports.ie/products-page/table-tennis-tables/butterfly-city-concrete-table/

https://www.wesco-eshop.ie/of50242-outside-pro-510-table-tennis-table-cornilleau.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw-ZCKBhBkEiwAM4qfF2p7d-vrLkSCuNY8guc5d6hBu2b_tVOgg5UK4_RBHEgPQ7gXg1QCEhoCw4UQAvD_BwE

Sorry to say but i'm with taximan here. We give a disproportionate amount of money to the GAA at the expense of making sports freely available to all. Even the GAA clubs that use public parks for matches all weekend charge membership. We have a huge amount of green space and it wouldn't take a lot to change the landscape and make sport prevalent for all.

Finally, I appreciate the point about anti social behaviour but is it really a reason not to do anything? If this stuff can't happen in South Dublin then you'd think that it can't happen anywhere in Ireland and the country is doomed.

17-09-2021 9:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902296#Comment_117902296

There are a few tennis clubs that are run on a public private basis with DLRCC, in one I live near the public element is a few hours a week on a Saturday afternoon, ie one gate is left open for a few hours.

There are long waiting lists for most tennis clubs now.

The issue is spending forty million plus on a library and we dont have enough tennis, basketball, skateboard parks, table tennis, badminton etc public facilities.

We have really high levels if obesity among young people particularly young people from the more disadvantaged areas, these young peoples parents wont join tennis clubs no matter how reasonable it is so we need public facilities that are easy to access.

I wouldnt have played tennis as a child if we hadnt had access to the St Annes tennis courts and I never got a coaching lesson so never had the confidence to join a club, its shocking that forty years later nothing has changed.

bodgerfederer · 17-09-2021 9:23am

100% this taxiperson.

sport is increasingly becoming the preserve of the middle classes who drive their kids around to local clubs 4-5 days a week. My son's football club is 300quid, then there's swimming, biking, trampoline, tennis etc etc. its a not small amount of money per child.

free play, unstructured sports have a huge role in promoting health and (if you're into it) sporting success. we have the space and the money required isn't massive. i feel that the only thing lacking is a bit of imagination.

josip · 17-09-2021 10:20am

13.7 million spent on outdoor leisure last year vs 10 million on library and archival

https://www.dlrcoco.ie/sites/default/files/atoms/files/adopted_budget_2021.pdf

Obviously with headline budget figures like these, it would be important to know what's actually included.

It does seem like a disproportionate amount spent on libraries, a sedentary activity, versus outdoor activities.

But when you consider the climate we live in and that for a good few months of the year, daylight hours are restrictive, it may not be.

I agree that just because something might get vandalised isn't a reason for not doing it. But just because the outdoor infrastructure is provided, doesn't mean it will be used by the people who need to use it either. I'm very happy that my job isn't to tackle childhood obesity, I've no idea where to begin.

Although the outdoor table tennis sounds like fun, especially for those who have enjoyed it on holidays in European campsites, has anyone ever tried it here in Ireland? I have, at least 5 times, and every single time it was just frustrating. Wind.

Finally back to the tennis topic. Tennis in Ireland, whether people will admit it or not, is a middle class sport, especially at club level. Many people would be reluctant to join clubs, not because of their ability or perceived lack thereof, but because they just don't fit in. My kids are members of a club in the area, and are perfectly comfortable there with schoolfriends. I played enough tennis growing up as a kid to be confident in my ability. But I'd always feel out of place if I play a match with them as a visitor or if I oversee their club match. Its nothing to do with cost; tennis club annual membership is less than their soccer club membership. So even though I could play on nice private courts for free, I prefer to play with them on tarmac in Clarinda or Marley Park amongst normal people. But most of all I prefer playing with them on clay :)

ted1 · 17-09-2021 10:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901493#Comment_117901493

the council could make their own for cheaper

ted1 · 17-09-2021 10:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902480#Comment_117902480

clubs do pay rent to the council for use of pitches..

ted1 · 17-09-2021 10:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117901841#Comment_117901841

There are Tennis courts in Marley Park, they've been there over 30 years!!!!

17-09-2021 11:08am

I didnt realise that, havent been to Marlay Parks in decades to be honest dont go to Parks at all since my children outgrew playgrounds.

How do the public tennis courts work and how come they arent vandalised,are they open every day and is it easy to get a court.

If the courts are operating very well then why cant we have tennis courts in other parks and table tennis facilities too.

It isnt just Dunlaoghaire Rathdown that is lacking these facilities,they are badly lacking in rural ares too,its as if everyone is a GAA fan and if you arent into that in some rural areas then there isnt a whole lot to do.

Dun Laoghaire Thread. No traffic, commuting, transport chat.

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