Monday, 30 January 2012 14:50

A proposal to lease land at Wheatfield in Malahide to Naomh Mearnog GAA Club and a proposed allotment is to be revisited by local councillors. Instead of asking the council to rubber-stamp the decision, the local area committee requested another opportunity to discuss the plan. Cllr Peter Coyle (Lab) intervened on behalf of the Malahide/Howth Area Committee at a meeting of the full council where that committee’s earlier decision to lease the land was to be rubber-stamped. But Coyle asked that the matter be sent back to the local area committee for further discussion before it was approved by the full council. The plan is for some 1.81 hectares for playing fields for the club to be leased from the council to the Portmarnock club. There is also a proposal to set some of the large tract of land as an allotment. Coyle had earlier welcomed the deal as well as Cllr Anthony Lavin (FG), who said he was “delighted that the Council were making this arrangement with the club.” Further details on this development will be announced in the coming weeks. The field is on the Drumnigh Road, close to it’s junction with Blackwood Lane. The major problem is getting access to the field, as it’s position is very close to a dangerous bend in the road, which is likely to have safety implications. The only entrance at present is opposite Galtrim Grange housing estate, but this leads into a field owned by a developer. Coyle told the County Leader: “The area committee wished to discuss access to both the proposed pitches and the adjacent allotments for both short term development and long term safety. There is great demand at present for allotments in the area and many residents have enquired about the possibility of them being delivered. They would prove a great amenity for the people of both Malahide and Portmarnock,” he said. He also stressed that “having an integrated approach to the development of playing pitches and the allotments is highly desirable.”