News

Living Streets

The only major news in Dún Laoghaire since the middle of 2022 has been the councils plans for pedestrianisation and other interventions. They have been working on these plans since then and we have covered all the events allong the way. The process will come to a vote in February 2024.

Best Decorate House and Shopfront 2021

Over Christmas we ran our annual best decorated house and best shop window display competition.  Yet again Covid managed to cause a lot of disruption to us and the awarding of the prizes was greatly delayed. 

We do this every year to try and  acknowledge the effort that shops and residents make, to brighten up our town, our community, our streets.  Some people go for big impressive displays others go for more delicate, personal displays.  But all are doing something for the community, lightening up dark streets with beautiful displays.

Our judge for best decorated house was the Reverend David Nixon of the Methodist Church on Northumberland Ave.  David wrote the following words on this years winner.

One of the things which helped us during the first lock-down was the fantastic weather we enjoyed.  So many people commented on how they heard bird song when they were out walking!  It has been different during this past winter as many have suffered bereavement, and we all realised how dangerous the virus was.  We became weary with the virus and its restrictions and our mood in general in the winter is lower because we have less sun and daylight. 

We were therefore particularly taken with the houses in Fairway Drive in Cualanor because of the level of cheer they brought in the middle of this.  As the days ended, their attractive bright Christmas decorations brought the street to life and it was enjoyable to walk along it and admire the various decorations and displays.  We therefore chose you for the award and we really Thank You for bringing a little bit of joy and brightness to our lives and community when we desperately needed it.

We presented the award to Barbara of 25 Fairway Drive but really it was for the whole street.  Thank you for your efforts.

The best decorated Shop this year went to O’Mahony & Ennis Pharmacy on Georges St.

They have consistently made beautiful  shop window displays in their Edwardian shopfront changing throughout the year with the seasons.  We are all lucky to benefit from Annette’s creativity and eye for design.

UPDATE – APRIL 2022 – The council is currently reviewing the feedback and data from the trail that took place last year and will hopefully be making a recommendation shortly.

Pedestrianisation of Georges St

DLR CoCo are planning on pedestrianising Georges St from the 5th of July until the 30th of September 2021.  They will be closing Georges St from the junction with Patrick St to Dunphys Pub which will be a corner of the new Myrtle Square.

This could be a great benefit to the town of Dún Laoghaire making the town centre a more attractive space for shoppers and residents.  Increasing more shoppers and new, quality retail businesses into the town centre.  It could be the good news story that sadly has not been very common for Dún Laoghaire town over the last number of years.

There is some concern among some resident associations that there could be a large increase in traffic problems in and around the town.  For example, more rat-running through residential areas and more traffic near schools, as well as more traffic jams across the town.

DLRCC has been conducting a public consultation that closes on Friday the 11th of June to get peoples opinions.

Map of Georges St — Changes to Roads — Myrtle Square — FAQ’s

The DLCRA is supportive of the initiative and wants to assist in helping it be a great success for the town.  To that end, the DLCRA will be conducting traffic counting before, during and after the trail in specific areas to help assess the impact of the changes and will engage with residents associations and the County Council itself on a regular basis.  Hopefully any issues that arise can be quickly resolved and this will be another successful project that helps rejuvenate Dún Laoghaire.

If at anytime you would like to give us your opinion so that we can pass them on to the County council please don’t hesitate to email us as info@dlcra.ie

–

Best Decorated House and Shop Front 2020

The winners of the best decorated house and shop front have been announced.

The Rev Asa Olafsdottir was the judge of the best Decorated house this year.  While the judging of the best decorated shop front was done by the DLCRA.  Normally the children of 6^th class in Dominican Convent are the judges of the best decorated shop front, but due to disruptions caused by Covid this wasn’t possible this year.

There were many beautiful streets across the town and stiff competition from many houses, in particular we would highlight Clarinda Park East, Crosthwaite Park and in particular Fairview Drive in Cualanor which all have very delightfully decorated houses.

The winner however as chosen by Rev Olafsdottir was No. 7 Wellington St.  Sisters Evelyn and Yvonne McKenna have made their 3 windows into  beautiful Christmas display that works during the day and in the night.  Their house has no front garden so the windows are easy to look into from the street.  Each window is down with a different theme with the centre window holding a beautiful Nativity scene.  Each one beautiful in their own right with Santa’s, Christmas Trees and Reindeer, they are light up at night and are a delight to stubble across so close to the centre of the town.

The pictures below fail to give justice to their allure, this authors phone sadly doesn’t have the best camera, so the apologies are all mine.

When told they had won, Evelyn remarked “We do it for the children and for the community, we’re so happy that people appreciate it.”

Rev Asa remarked that the thought that went into the display really showed.  It wasn’t a case of having the most money, but being the most beautiful and thoughtful.  The DLCRA hope you agree.

Shop

The best decorated shop front went to a Dún Laoghaire Institution.  The lights above their shop are a real highlight of Georges St, especially at night.  We are delighted to award Hicks of Dún Laoghaire the winners of Best Decorated Shop Front 2020.  Again the pictures don’t do the shop justice.

Traffic Lights, Cycle Lanes and Dún Laoghaire (full text)

“The traffic is worse in Dún Laoghaire and its all because of the cycle lanes.”  I’m sure we have heard this said in the town over the last months.  Maybe we have said it ourselves, but is it true?

There have been a lot of changes in Dún Laoghaire town in 2020 and one of the changes which had the most impact on people’s lives has been to do with transport.  When the first lock downs took place seemingly over night changes were made to the road infrastructure, such as the replacing of a car lane by the new cycle lane on the coast road from Sandycove to Blackrock.  While this was the most visible example there was another change that may have had an even larger impact on people, changes to the traffic lights. 

During the first lockdown, the signalling of the traffic lights was changed to reflect the decrease of traffic on the roads and the increase in pedestrians.  These changes have not reverted to how they were pre-covid.

Some traffic lights are part of the SCARTS system and are controlled by Dublin City (Tivoli/York Rd), DLR only have control of lights away from main routes, although they can communicate that they are experiencing problems if they want the SCART system changed. 

The changes to the signalling has given more time to pedestrians and less time to car moving through the junctions, this has created tail backs and delays, which in turn have lead to a reported increase in rat running through streets in the town.  The Tivoli Terraces (and Corrig Avenue) are all experiencing increases in traffic on their streets, causing disruption to residents.

There is a policy of giving priority to pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport before private cars.  Indeed, all levels of government (local/national) are committed to trying to reduce private car use.  Therefore, reducing traffic congestion may not be seen as desirable.  Reducing congestion increases driver numbers and no part of the government wants to see that.

The addition of the cycle lanes is seen as a success by many and the data backs that up.  DLRCC saw a high of over 20,000 cyclists use the coastal cycle route per week, but this has reduced slightly in recent months. Numbers for last month show approx. 15,000 per week.  The route is currently the most heavily used route in the County for cyclists.

When Covid is finally over and workers start returning to their offices in the city,  traffic levels will surely increase, this could be a worry.  However, it is reassuring to hear that DLR have engaged TUD to carry out an independent assessment of the route which will include an opportunity for public input.

Is congestion in Dún Laoghaire all the fault of Cycle Lanes?  The simple answer is.. No.  The blame is should not solely be put at the foot of Cycle Lanes.  If they are removed the traffic will not return to preCOVID-19 levels, the signalling is just as important to congestion.  We might just need to adapt to more congestion and less cars.

We need and will hopefully get a more nuanced picture of what is happening in the town and how we want to live in it. 

Public Consultation of new cycling lanes and routes

Three new cycle routes are being proposed by DLRCoCo and the council is looking for feedback on the routes before October the 23rd. The routes are aimed at encouraging and assisting cycling, particularly for schools, across the county. View a map of the routes here.

The three routes include:

The Sea to Mountains Route which goes from Blackrock Dart Station, to Mountmerrion and Deerpark. Then continuing to Kilmacud, Dundrum and on to Marlay Park.

The Park to Park Route which also starts at Blackrock Dart Station, going south Rockfield Park and onto Deansgrange Road. From Deansgrange it will go through Meadowvale Park and Kilbogget Park to Loughlinstown and eventually the coast.

The Mountains to Metals Route goes from Sandyford down through Ardagh Park through Springhill Ave meeting the Deansgrange road. From Deansgrange it will join Meadowvale and cross Pottery Road through the National Rehabilitation Hospital and go into Sallynoggin, passing through Glenageary and linking up with the Metals.

Full details including detailed maps and an Online Survey can be found on the DLR website here

Of particular interest to many residents is the potential for a single lane of traffic along the Deansgrange Road to accommodate a two way cycle lane, similar to the cycle lane along the coast from Sandycove to Blackrock.