St. Patrick’s Athletic bosses are advocating people power to breathe life back into their ambitious Richmond Arena project.
The Saints have released a strongly-worded statement almost a year to the day from the announcement of their development proposal - a new town centre to provide retail and community facilities in Inchicore, incorporating a state-of-the-art 12,000-seat stadium.
And the club is asking Inchicore locals and the people of west Dublin to air their support for what they describe as an "imaginative and very feasible solution" to some key needs of the capital in terms of housing, parking and commerical needs.
"The people of Inchicore and West Dublin will have many opportunities to meet Councillors and would-be Councillors in the coming weeks, as they canvass votes for next month's local elections," reads the statement.
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"We would encourage everyone to make sure that the members of the next City Council, who will decide on this issue in due course, are left in no doubt as to the type of development their constituents wish to see in Inchicore."
Despite no public money being asked for, and the provision for "very substantial" new housing units on both St Michael's Estate, where the Richmond Arena would be located, and on the Richmond Park site of the current stadium, the proposal has not been accepted.
Instead, Dublin City Council are in the process of developing an alternative proposal that will go before councillors for approval.
The statement reads: "We are extremely disappointed and frustrated that, under pressure from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Dublin City Council, as of now, is planning a much more limited development of St Michael's Estate which will throw away, forever, the once-off opportunity which our proposal offers for a major enhancement of Inchicore.
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"Essentially, under the Council plan, Inchicore is to be used to 'try out' a particular housing model whereas what Inchicore needs, and needs urgently, is the solution to a number of critical local problems all of which would be resolved by accepting our plan.
"It's therefore particularly disappointing that, to justify ignoring the benefits of what we have outlined, City Council officials now claim that our proposal would not be consistent with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
"In reality, our proposal provides a much better solution to the development needs of Inchicore than the alternative option and we will make available to the City Councillors the detailed expert analysis to demonstrate this".
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