Rural community calls for introduction of cattle grids
By Mary Dennehy
COUNCILLORS have been invited to attend a meeting this Tuesday, February 19, to discuss the rural community’s continued call for cattle grids.
As reported in The Echo back in 2016, 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.
An example of a cattle grid in use in Kildare
Up until the sixties, there were farm gates on the roads through these areas to keep animals on the commonage, 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 crawl up the hills.
In 2016, the Glenasmole Concerned Residents and Farming Group put together a 47-page proposal on the installation of four cattle grids in the area – a report which received cross party and community support.
After a discussion in council chambers, which included members of the rural community, South Dublin County Council said that while it did not intend to install cattle grids, due to safety concerns, it would commission an independent review on the issue.
This review concluded that the implementation of cattle grids as proposed could result in an “increased risk of collision and or personal injury to road users” – including cyclists, joggers, motorists and motorcyclists.
Based on these conclusions, the council’s road department said there was “no proposal to install cattle grids as to do so would be an unacceptable and unwarranted hazard to all road users”.
Despite receiving the support of councillors, the campaign for cattle grids continues two years later.
Speaking with The Echo this week, Glenasmole farmer Donie Anderson said: “We want to stop sheep coming off the commonage.
“People who graze their sheep on the hills are stopping, it’s just too much hassle keeping the sheep from travelling off the hills – it’s a full time job.
“This has been a tradition here for generations and families who have grazed sheep on the commonage for years are being forced off the hill forever.”
He added: “Cattle grids don’t seem to be a problem in other areas like Kildare and Carlow.”
Solidarity councillor Mick Murphy has visited the location of cattle grids in Kildare, and believes that the grids can be installed safely here in South Dublin County.
“All the councillors supported the grids when discussed and, having done our homework as you can see, we are quite sure they can be safely installed just as they are around the Curragh”, Cllr Murphy said.
“To put it another way, it there was any danger of sheep running out onto the M50, they would have been installed long ago.”
The public meeting is being held this Tuesday, February 19, at 8.30pm in the Glenasmole Community Centre.
