Tents pitched on Kilcoole soccer field
August 1995
DOZENS of local people pitched tents on a local schoolboys’ soccer pitch this week in a bid to save the facility from redevelopment.
And according to parents in Kilcoole, they plant to stay put until Wicklow County Council comes up with an alternative for over 100 youngsters in the St Anthony’s Schoolboys Football Club.
The militant move last Monday came after months of unsuccessful negotiations between the two sides to find a replacement pending the completion of a permanent new ground on the old Kilcoole dump due to be ready next year.
St Anthony’s Secretary Ian McManus said they had decided to permanently occupy the pitch to prevent it being redeveloped following agreement by the council to hand it over to the Glen Druid Golf Club.
‘We have no quarrel with the golf club, but we fear that once we let go of the pitch we won’t get an alternative,’ said Mr McManus, who reported that 15 children and six adults had camped overnight on the land last Monday.
‘Over 100 children use the pitch every week throughout the year and its loss would be a major blow to the community,’ he said.
Acting Wicklow County Secretary Brian White said that while the council had a high regard for the club, they ‘regretted’ the protest.
‘We are in a very difficult position having agreed to the land swap,’ he said. ‘I would appeal to St Anthony’s to put their efforts into finding and alternative playing venue within the community pending the completion of their new home on land which the council made every effort to provide.’
Mr White also suggested that a community wide appeal at this point might elicit an offer of an alternative venue for the club.
The club case has been taken up by several local politicians, including Senator Dick Roche who said that the parents action had been ‘ born out of frustration’ at the failure of the council to provide them with another venue.
The controversy comes against the background of agreement by the council to dispose of the pitch to Glen Druid in return for 11 acres of nearby land which have been earmarked for a new second level school in the area.