Churches and education officials clash over rezoning school lands

The Carmelites are seeking to have lands rezoned at Terenure College

Wayne O'Connor

February 27 2022 02:30 AM

Education officials have asked Dublin City Council to protect land around schools in the capital, clashing with religious orders who asked for the sites to be considered for housing.

Religious orders including the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, the Irish Province of the Order of Carmelites and the Church of Ireland believe lands they control have the capacity to support housing supply without negatively impacting future school expansion.

The Department of Education disagrees. It wants the council to develop a zoning category “that protects the existing curtilage of all existing school sites in Dublin”.

In a submission to Dublin City Council’s (DCC) draft 2022-2028 development plan, setting legal parameters for building in the capital, the department said it believes future rising populations and projections for Dublin’s growth means some schools will need space to expand.

Citing prohibitive land costs and limited availability, it is urging the council to ensure school sites do not face “reduction” and “erosion”.

The 17-page letter sent to council officials earlier this month said “a strategic long-term view is required to ensure a capacity for required school places in a more densely populated city”.

It said recent studies showed the population of Dublin is expected to increase by about 100,000 people between 2019 and 2031.

Dublin has 300 primary, secondary and special schools, and “the full protection of every one of these school properties (including buildings, play areas, pitches and green areas) is critical to optimally meet the future educational needs” of areas across the city, the department added.

The submission said it is more viable and cost-effective to protect land than to seek future alternatives.

“Any reduction/erosion whatsoever in the area of a school site could inhibit the optimal development of that site/school in order to optimally meet the future requirements of the local area, arising from the general policy of more intensive development in the city,” the letter said.

“Where there are any land buffers around existing schools, the department also requests that these be protected. City land is very scarce, and where it is available, it is generally exorbitantly expensive, commanding residential prices.”

Separate submissions to the council by religious groups indicate a desire to maximise land values before any future sale or development by having them zoned for housing. The Dublin Diocese asked the council to consider “alternative zoning” across land it owns at about 170 schools across the city.

“These sites don’t have any long-term capacity issues and don’t envisage a need for expansion of same,” it said in a 130-page submission.

Another submission, by the Carmelite Order that runs Terenure College, said its site is “far in excess” of what the school needs.

Meanwhile, the Church of Ireland is seeking rezoning of part of its lands that previously formed part of its teaching college in Rathmines before it was relocated to DCU in 2016.

The representative body for the Church of Ireland said it carried out an audit of its property and “determined that there is an excess of lands that they will not require for church or education use”.

“In this context there is an opportunity to provide sustainable residential development in a core urban location that can help address the housing crises in the city.”

It said the church would like the northern section of its five-acre site off Rathmines Road Upper zoned to provide for institutional, educational, community, green infrastructure and health uses. The southern part of the site could be zoned to “improve residential amenities”, it said.

“The lands are in private use and thus don’t offer an ‘amenity open space’ to the wider community. In this context it must be questioned whether the currently inaccessible subject site and regularly maintained lawn are of any value as public open space, and whether — given their central location — they can be better utilised.”