Grid decision by council ‘surprises’ rural community

By Mary Dennehy

MEMBERS of Tallaght’s rural community have this week expressed their upset over a council decision which has ruled against the installation of cattle grids in the area, with farmers believing cyclists and tourists have been favoured over locals.

As reported in The Echo last February, animals have been grazing on commonage or community grazing lands in Cunard, Piperstown and Glassymuck Breaks to the Featherbeds for generations, with these lands the last of commonage grazing in Dublin.

Up until the sixties, there were farm gates on the roads through these areas to keep animals on the commonage grazing lands, which have no known land ownership and are used communally by farmers to feed their livestock.

However, the emergence of large housing developments pushed farming further up the hills and the gates were removed, with no alternative introduced.

Since the 1980s, requests have been made by the rural community to re-instate livestock controls which were removed when housing developments started to creep up the hills.

With support from Tallaght Community Council [TCC], the Glenasmole Concerned Residents and Farming Group put together a 47-page proposal on the installation of four cattle grids into the area – a report which received cross-community and national support.

After a campaign was launched, which included members of the rural community speaking in council chambers, South Dublin County Council said that while it did not intend to install cattle grids, due to safety concerns, they would commission an independent review on the issue.

This week, the council issued the independent safety review – and confirmed that due to safety concerns it would not be installing cattle grids.

The report said: “Installation of the current proposals is expected to result in an increased risk of collision and/or personal injury for road users in the Cunard and Glenasmole areas when compared to the current arrangement.

“It is therefore recommended that an alternative design or scheme be investigated.”

The report also concluded that cattle grids would reduce skid resistance and vibration for cyclists and motorcyclists, resulting in loss of control type collisions, while also posing the risk of “slips, trips or falls” for joggers.

Speaking to The Echo after the decision, local farmer Donie Anderson, said: “I’m really surprised the council didn’t meet us halfway . . . and I believe that they were listening more to the needs of cyclists and tourists rather than the locals living here. 

“As far as I could see in the report, it’s all about the cyclists.”

He added: “The argument about safety just doesn’t make any sense when cattle grids are used in other counties. We will be keeping the pressure on and hoping that our councillors, who have been a great support to date, will continue to help us.

“We can’t just give up.”

Tallaght South Sinn Féin councillor Dermot Richardson, who is one of a number of local politicians supporting the campaign, said: “The council came back with their report and confirmed that they won’t be installing cattle grids.

“I definitely do think we can come up with some sort of solution, like, for example, mats can be placed over the grids for road races.

“If the council can’t provide cattle grids, they need to look at other ways to facilitate the needs of our rural community.”