A PROPOSAL TO build a playground in a park dedicated to the memories of the Irish volunteers who died in the 1798 Rebellion has been branded “immoral” by protesters.
A petition calling for the safeguarding of the Croppies’ Acre Memorial Park on Wolfe Tone Quay, which is also thought to be a mass gravesite for the 1798 rebels, has garnered some 1,600 signatures so far.
Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam put forward the proposal to Dublin City Council’s parks department in an effort, he says, to tackle anti-social behaviour and to utilise the green space for locals.
The memorial park closed to the public in 2012 after the Office of Public Works (OPW) – who maintained the park at the time – said that they couldn’t keep it safe for the public due to anti-social behaviour.
Hypodermic needles were regularly found at the park, and in September 2012 the OPW said that it didn’t have the budget to keep the park safe for the public and permanently padlocked the gate. The closure came just one year after about €35,000 had been sunk into restoring the park.
The management of the park was handed over to Dublin City Council by the OPW in 2013 and the council’s Parks and Landscapes Services carried out extensive works to upgrade it and make it more accessible for the public.
When the park reopened in June 2016, the council said that in total the works cost about €120,000.
Councillor McAdam told TheJournal.ie that his overall fear is that the park will close to the public again, as constituents who use the park regularly contact him about the continued level of anti-social behaviour.
“The gardaí are constantly in and trying to deal with the situation but even yesterday when myself, my wife, and the young son were in it, there were people drinking, there were issues in terms of drug use.
“So if you’ve got an area that isn’t being used or where it’s being left idle, that is a recipe, in my view, for anti-social behaviour.
I’m not saying that I have all the answers but the idea of having a playground or play equipment there might produce the opportunity for increased footfall. Where you see increased footfall in an area that is widely used, the level of antisocial behaviour falls as a result.
McAdam says there is merit in examining the feasibility of installing a playground or some play equipment in one small section of Croppies’ Acre. He has suggested the area immediately adjacent to the Civil Defence headquarters.
According to McAdam, council officials believe the Croppies’ Acre could accommodate a junior playground.
“Over the coming weeks, I will look to work with the Parks Department to identify the cost and seek to prepare a feasibility plan for a dedicated play area and purpose-built playground that could potentially serve young families living in the Stoneybatter, Arbour Hill, Montpelier and Infirmary Road areas,” McAdam said in a statement on his website.
The inner-city councillor said the park has been a lifeline for him and locals during the pandemic as green spaces and areas with play equipment for young children are limited in Dublin 7, in particular.
Before reopening in 2016, the council put in a new circulatory path system, upgraded the existing pedestrian gates and installed a new pedestrian gate at the south-west end. Some 100 new trees were also planted.
“The park is big enough and because of the way the trees have been planted you could actually protect the particular memorial area, while also making better use, I think, of the area, nearly half of the remaining park,” said McAdam.
‘Immoral’
Colum Ó Ruairc, who runs the 1798 Rebellion Casualty Date Base, started the petition to oppose McAdam’s plans to show there are people around the country who care about places of historical significance.
He stressed that it is not just a memorial park but a burial site.
“Looking at the public reaction, they are quite annoyed. It’s not just Stoneybatter, or just Dublin 7 that should have a say on this. It should be the whole country and the Irish diaspora with a connection to the rebellion,” Ó Ruairc told TheJournal.ie.
“It’s been 222 years since the rebellion. A lot of people are desensitised from that period, it’s just a park now to them. I can imagine that a lot of people who use that park don’t know what it is. A simple park in the middle of a city can still have its secrets too.
“It was a memorial area that was designed and dedicated in 1998, purposely for the memory of those who died in 1798, regardless of if there are remains below or not. People are feeling threatened that it’s being encroached upon.
I know the park is disrespected daily, by many people going in there drinking cans, urinating, and using drugs but unfortunately, a playground is not going to solve that. A playground is not going to stop anti-social behaviour, it’s proven all across the country.
Ó’Ruairc added that any sort of amenity in a memorial park is “immoral”.
“Would it be done to a mass Famine grave? Or near the Tuam Mother and Baby Home? No, it wouldn’t, there would be public uproar.”
The National Graves Association – a voluntary organisation which lists and maintains the graves of Irish patriots – said the Croppies’ Acre must be protected as it stands as a “proud acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by the heroes of ’98 who died in the cause of Irish freedom”.
It is understood that the brother of Theobald Wolfe Tone, Matthew Tone and the leader of the rebellion Bartholomew Teeling are interred there.
“This site has come under threat previously and the NGA has led campaigns for it to be saved as a fitting memorial. If it is a case that once again we must ‘take the pike from the thatch’ the National Graves Association will not be found wanting,” the group said.
Previous plans for the Liffey Cycle Route involved diverting the route away from the quays and through the Croppies’ Acre park. This came about after a report carried out on behalf of Dublin City Council by Archaeology Plan – a heritage consultancy company – found that the remains may not be buried in the park at all.
The diversion was scrapped after concerns were raised by business owners, apartment dwellers, and historical groups.
The NGA contend that the park is a mass burial site for rebels who fought in the failed 1798 Rebellion – commonly referred as Croppies due to their close-cut hair which mimicked the style of the French revolutionaries at the time.
NGA spokesperson Matt Doyle said that while the group has sympathy for those living in the inner city who lack green spaces and amenities for kids, “the Phoenix Park is a stone’s throw from the Croppies’ Acre”.
“What’s there is respectful and honours our patriot dead. We believe it should be left, and if needs be, it should be monitored more.”
Dublin City Council did not respond to comment.
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