‘I wish for that money to be used for a better cause’ – child’s letter to Council on rafting plan
AN 11-YEAR-OLD child wrote to Dublin City Council about its plans for a €25m whitewater rafting facility, saying: “What I wish for Christmas is for that money to be used for a better cause.”
Correspondence released to the Irish Independent shows how members of the public have been critical about the project. People sent handwritten letters and emails outlining their struggle to own a home in the capital as they questioned why the money was not being allocated to essential services or social housing.
One young child also spoke about a trip to Dublin which opened their eyes to the homelessness crisis.
They wrote: “To Dublin City Council, my name is [redacted] and I am 11 years old. Yesterday I went to Dublin city and saw so many homeless people out on the street in the cold. It seemed so awful and not right.
“The one thing I keep thinking about is while I’m writing this letter there are so many people and children that don’t have a place to call home and the Dublin City Council are busy building a white water rafting place for twenty two million euro.
“So what I wish for this Christmas is for that money to be used for a better cause.”
It emerged in January that the cost of the project – initially estimated to be €12m – had risen to €25m. The Council’s chief executive Owen Keegan outlined that the cost increased because the project “was extended to include a swift water training facility as part of the white water course and the construction of a new docklands office and reception centre”.
“The funding is not ‘all taxpayers money’,” he wrote in an email dated January 25, 2021, which responded to a letter published in the Irish Times criticising the project.
“A substantial portion of the funding will come from development levies and from a loan, which will be remunerated by the surplus generated by the facility.
“Some grant funding may be sourced from the EU.”
Under the plans, George’s Dock will be converted into a mechanically-propelled rafting facility with a water polo pitch and an emergency service training centre.
Another email released under a Freedom of Information request read: “Dear councillor, this is not Dubai, this is Dublin.
“There is a housing crisis the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades. I am 33 and a primary school teacher. My partner, soon to be husband, is a health care assistant. We live with our parents and will be living apart for the foreseeable future. We are a lot more fortunate than many, with steady jobs and income, yet our combined salary of €72,000 gets us laughed out of banks when we go looking for a mortgage to live where we work and grew up.”
Another email told the Council to look at the Twitter reaction to the project.
The email, sent on January 16, 2021 said: “I don’t care how much of a keen white water rafter Mr Keegan is (please ensure he sees this if the email is correct). Read the tweets under the announcement. People do not want this.”
While the white-water rafting facility has been met with opposition, others have welcomed the project.
A 15-year-old kayaker wrote to the council: “I am writing to express my pleasure and happiness over how you voted. Please, please keep supporting this project. My sport has never gotten anything in the past.”