THE OPW HAS defended proposals for Dublin’s Phoenix Park, saying that the proposals were based on visitor feedback and efforts to modernise the park.

A public consultation process for the 1750-acre park has ended today, which asked the public to respond to a number of proposals that were made in the Executive Draft Summary.

Among the main proposals to revamp the park is an expansion of the visitor centre, a shuttle bus, a development plan for the Magazine Fort, and additional parking spaces.

Among the proposals are a car park, with a spokesperson for the OPW explaining that this was being considered because “we want people to use the park”.

The summary said that the issue of parking spaces “may be contained within the methods employed by large events, such as Bloom, which temporarily colonises discreet parts of the park for temporary parking of cars”.

It suggests that this problem could be solved with “a more permanent form with careful and well-designed car parking areas”.

It also proposes “a high line and Greenway combined – walking, running, cycling, horse & carriage, skateboard, and hop-on, hop-off shuttles – with information points at intervals along the route, telling of the Park’s history and visitor attractions.”

Rosemary Collier Director of the National Historic Properties at the Office of Public Works (OPW) told RTÉ’s Drivetime that the report was “a review of visitors’ experiences, it’s not a development plan”.

“We wanted to review how visitors currently experience the park, signage, way-finding.

Collier said that although there were “huge levels of satisfaction” there were things that could be “enhanced”. A report was then compiled that made 29 proposals based on the review, with public consultations expected to whittle these suggestions down further.

She said that of the 10 million people who visit the park each year, 1.7 million people use the visitor facilities annually, but there were “only five toilets” for people to use. Collier said that they were “trying to provide modern facilities” for visitors.

“The Phoenix Park is the wonderful green lung of Dublin,” she said.