Memorial site commitment honoured for young Stephen

SOUTH Dublin County Council said it will keep its commitment for a memorial site and a naming convention in Rossfield, Tallaght, in honour of 12-year-old Stephen Hughes.

The site where the young boy was killed in 2001, after a makeshift hut he was sleeping in was set on fire, has now been earmarked for an 11-unit social housing development.

The development was discussed at a council meeting this week, as the proposal is part of a new planning scheme which precludes the use of the Part 8 public consultation process.

Titled the Local Authority Housing Developments Temporary Planning Exemption, it means in specific circumstances the council can progress its own planning projects without a public consultation.

The proposed development at Rossfield falls under the exemption, however at the council meeting, Sinn Féin councillor Louise Dunne expressed concerns about the proposal.

Cllr Dunne referred to Stephen’s mother, Elizabeth, and commitments that had been made to her about the site, and whether the council would now honour those commitments.

“I brought this first onto the [council] floor in 2014, and I think that’s how long I’ve been pushing for this,” she said.

“But throughout that, I have been in correspondence with Stephen’s mother.

“It’s a hugely sensitive site and I know the council have been really, really good in corresponding with Elizabeth as well in relation to the site and the redevelopment.

“These plans were brought to us previously in the Tallaght Area Committee and there were commitments given to Elizabeth in relation to the naming of the new development and a memorial as well.

“Will those plans stay the same…the commitments made to Elizabeth, will the council still continue with those commitments?”

Cllr Dunne’s party colleague, Cllr Cathal King, also described the topic as a “very, very sensitive subject that we’ve been trying to deal with for the last 20 years”.

He added that he had “every confidence” that the council would deliver on the commitments that it had made to Stephen’s mother.

Speaking at the meeting, Colm Ward from the council said that while the project would be progressed under the new scheme, the prior commitments made to Elizabeth would be unchanged.

Stephen tragically passed away in 2001

“[I’m] very conscious of the Rossfield site,” he said. “I was working in the area at the time when that awful tragedy happened back in the early 2000s.

“The commitments are there, and there’ll be no change from that.”

Elsewhere, councillors were largely critical of the exemption scheme, which is being applied to a number of other developments, as it removes public consultation.

These developments include a 24-unit age-friendly scheme in Deansrath/Melrose, a 32-unit social housing scheme on Stocking Lane and Traveller accommodation in Kishogue Park.

The exemption can only be applied in circumstances where the subject site is council owned and zoned for residential use, and it must be in accordance with the County Development Plan.

The developments under the scheme also must be commenced on site by the end of 2024, otherwise they will revert to the beginning and will require a Part 8 to proceed.

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