Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is investigating how land it thought was designated for parkland has become the subject of a planning application for private residential development.
Shannon Homes has applied to build 108 apartments in two blocks of up to six storeys and one two-bedroom townhouse on land in their ownership and on public open space near housing developments. The open space is beside Merville and Stillorgan Heath and behind St Raphaela's Secondary School, off the Upper Kilmacud Road in south Dublin.
It is understood a land swap was agreed involving the council, St Raphaela's school and Shannon Homes. It was agreed to create a straight-line boundary between the school grounds and the public open space to replace an existing irregular boundary and to ease maintenance of the areas.
A triangle of land, which was part of the public open space, was given to the school to be incorporated into a new hockey pitch. In return, a separate triangle of land owned by the school was to be incorporated back into the public open space. However, this triangle has now been included in the application for residential development by Shannon Homes.
The legal status of the land swap is unclear.
John Dunne, Stillorgan Heath Residents Association (SHRA) chairman, said local residents were shocked that part of their local park could be used for housing. "We are disappointed and angry by what has happened," he said. "We were led to believe the council had control of this piece of land but it appears the council have not been doing their utmost to protect our open space."
He said the association had written to county manager Owen Keegan, asking him to investigate the matter.
"As a result of this land swap residents of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown have lost part of a valuable community resource without consultation with us or our elected representatives," he said. "SHRA are asking that this piece of land be taken back in charge by the council and made available for the benefit of all the locals."
Local Progressive Democrats representative Barry Saul said there was also a lot of local concern in relation to the size and scale of the development and the effect it would have on the surrounding road network.
"There are also a number of serious questions that Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council will have to answer with respect to the title of the open space which borders Merville and Stillorgan Heath," he said.
A spokesman for the council said that they were seeking to resolve the issue and were hoping to meet Shannon Homes and the order in charge of the school, the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
A spokeswoman for the order said that it was not in a position to comment.
No one was available to comment from Shannon Homes.
