Republican News · Thursday 21 August 2003

Kinsealy should be public amenity

Commenting on last week's sale of disgraced former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey's Abbeville Estate at Kinsealy, Sinn Féin Councillor Larry O'Toole has called on Fingal County Council not to rezone the land for housing and to ensure that it remains part of the green belt and an amenity for local people.

O'Toole lives in the neighbouring Darndale housing estate and represents the Artane ward on Dublin City Council, which borders the Kinsealy lands. He said:

"The Abbeville estate should not become either a so-called 'exclusive' housing estate, with prices far beyond the reach of ordinary working people, or a golf club for the elite. For too long it has been a millionaire's playground. It should now become an amenity for the communities who bore the brunt of economic recession while the owner of Kinsealy enriched himself at our expense.

"The proposal for up to 4,000 houses on this site would be a disaster for this part of North Dublin. Already there is a massive housing development planned for the 'North Fringe', with up to 8,000 homes stretching from the Malahide Road to Baldoyle."