As the title says, this is a new thread for chat about Dun Laoghaire in general without the traffic & transport nonsense.
Enjoy.
It is fenced off now so perhaps it is awaiting signage or some other remedial work. There were mini diggers etc working on it at one point so I assume it wasn't locals doing that.
Parking next door in the Square shopping centre is free if you stay for under two hours. Plenty of time to borrow a book or two.
Oh really, thats deliberate?, would have though we were far litigatious for such a thing in this country and assumed the kids had fashioned the mudpiles in a "course" that way by riding it themselves. Would be great to see if that is indeed the intention as it seemed like great craic for them. I'd be concerned though that the first kid to fall off their bike and break an arm will have their mother suing DLR within an inch of their lives.
And I bet the officials have a nice big carpark that they use free of charge while telling the plebs to buy raingear and do their bit for the environment.
it would be interesting to know the spend on the Gorey library, I doubt if it came anywhere near forty million and yet its more user friendly that the Lexicon, ie staff at the door as you enter so help readily available and everything on the one floor. I believe the new library in Wexford town is very nice too, both libraries probably came in under forty million and the people of Wexford are as much into their galleries and meeting rooms etc as Dunlaoghaire residents.
I think you've just described yourself to a tee taxiperson, you haven't been anywhere, haven't done anything that really tells you anything about the actual World the rest of us are living in.
I've news for you, this isn't 1983, you're the outlier.
Their flagship library/cultural centre is within sight of their significant Council headquarters. Just like other affluent towns, like Tallaght.
Its still a pump track if it has been made using the left over topsoil? It had a series of rollers and two berms either end.
The libraries are a great facility, but unless you live close to one or your parents frequent libraries, it's unlikely you will spend much time in them as a kid.
Not surprisingly, they're all in the centres of affluent towns/villages in the borough. And it's more expensive housing that's within easy reach of them.
That's just the way it is unfortunately, life is harder if you got unlucky in the postcode lottery at birth.
obviously we're not going to get back onto cycle lanes in this thread but i don't think that you can just claim that they won't be used by a certain demographic.
similarly with the library; i appreciate what you mean about it being a middle class facility but the librarians do do outreach work, they make kids books available and they're as helpful as they can be in my experience. i'm not sure how one would make it a more working class friendly experience?
...actually i do, i turned up one time and there was a yoga and baby books thing on. i guess you could argue that yoga and baby books is an experience for all social groups but i'd laugh at you if you did.
They are at the back by the old playground, down from the new one. Free to play just turn up.
You know what would really be great for helping prevent obesity in children? Being able to use safe, protected, cycling facilities in their neighbourhood, be it Dun Laoghaire, Deansgrange or wherever. And in particular to go to school - an activity that they could do every day. No class discrimination and the vast majority of children have bikes.
There is no snobbery in my tennis club either but then again we are all middleclass and we could afford tennis lessons for our children.
If you are a child who isnt invited on playdates and your classmates run off together to tennis lessons after school to their private tennis club then you are going to think tennis is not for you.
These children wont be on bikes in the new cycle lanes either, they will be the children brought to McDonalds for Sunday lunch and fed unhealthy cheap food everyday which leads to weight gain, on and on it goes.And they definitely wont be brought to exhibitions in the Lexicon or sadly to choose books to borrow there,its such a middleclass facility and off putting to unconfident readers.
yep, tennis is an interesting one - like you say club membership can be inexpensive, my family membership is the same price as one son's membership at st joseph's football. probably the culture varies with each tennis club - there's no snobbery at all at my place, which is not the same as saying people wouldn't be put off in the first place. maybe a step to breaking those barriers would be to have half decent public courts?
i take your point about table tennis in ireland! but still, my point is that lots could be done at not a whole lot of cost in the grand scheme of things.
I run through this area at least four times a week, where is the bike/pump track? The only one I've ever seen like that is the mud piles the kids are using to go round BMX style beside the tennis club during the last month or two (fenced off this week but i saw kids have opened up the fence already). Talk about litigation waiting to happen, amazed they haven't leveled the mud yet.
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.
There are Tennis courts in Marley Park, they've been there over 30 years!!!!
clubs do pay rent to the council for use of pitches..
the council could make their own for cheaper
13.7 million spent on outdoor leisure last year vs 10 million on library and archival
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 :)
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.
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.
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.
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...😉
Apologies, i was being a bit throwaway when i said a couple of grand. still not huge money though.
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.
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.
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..
I am not sure the ones in Meadowvale are public but I could be wrong.
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.
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.
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?
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.
St Annes Park is on a different scale to anything in Dun Laoghaire.
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