Residents of the Liberties are again raising the issue of the lack of sporting facilities in Dublin’s south west inner city.
More than 8,000 children who live in The Liberties have no sporting pitch to play on, due to the lack of investment in the area. The issue was the focus of a recent report on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme.
“This issue has been going on for over 10 years now and we are being continually not listened to,” said JJ O’Mahony, chairperson of the Sporting Liberties, a consortium of sports clubs in the southwest inner city.
“Young people’s lives are being neglected in The Liberties – there is nowhere for them to enjoy their sport,” added O’Mahony.
Sporting Liberties has gone to battle with Dublin City Council (DCC) and successive governments, since it was first set up back in 2012. In 2022, members from the Sporting Liberties group along with people from The Liberties protested outside DCC’s Civic Offices.
“We need our children to have a place where they can escape to because ultimately if they don’t, they will fall into a life of crime,” said Councillor Darragh Moriarty of the Labour Party.
DCC’s depot site at Marrowbone Lane in the Liberties has been a location of interest for the development of sporting pitches from locals, while DCC continues to highlight unfulfilled plans for a sports development at nearby Donore Avenue.
Under the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund, €124 million has been allocated by the Government to support the development of larger sports and physical recreation in the country.
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