Blackrock is looking forward to welcoming new neighbours to Frascati Road housing over the coming weeks.  Blackrock Hall and the former Zurich House have been upgraded to provide accommodation for people seeking asylum in Ireland, as part of the Government’s International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).   The buildings have been fitted out to suit a mixture of families and single people, and include self catering facilities.  A maximum of 350 people could be accommodated here over time, and people will begin to move in gradually from early November.

People arriving into Ireland seeking asylum, are often highly skilled and highly educated.  Anybody can apply for permission to work after 5 months of being in the country.  Many of those who will be coming to Blackrock will have been here for a number of months and will soon be available for work and some will already be working.

A range of services and activities will be made available for the residents.  There are also a number of local sports clubs, organisations, and businesses that are keen to welcome our new neighbours and have offered assistance and services.

Blackrock is already a wonderfully diverse community.  Our seaside location, vibrant village, extensive parks and excellent public transport links combine to make this an excellent place to live.   We hope you will join us in extending a huge Céad Míle Fáilte to our newest neighbours.

If you have any questions or if you want to get involved with the support team, please email blackrockforall@gmail.com.

Phase 2 of the Blackrock Park Masterplan is on-going and beginning to look very impressive.   Credit has to be given to DLR Parks Department for their creative and innovative work.  At the present time, various different elements are under construction or due to commence as follows:

Adventure Play Space

Works to create an inclusive, adventure play space commenced in August 2023 and is due to officially open around now. This new amenity consists of a senior play area and an adjacent toddler space. The senior play area has been woven around existing trees and planting. The use of natural play element helps to enclose the area and stitch it into the park landscape. The toddler play area will be enclosed and feature a large, sand play area with play elements integrated, a swing set, picnic benches and park benches. There will be bike stands provided beside the toddler area.

Historic Steps Restoration

These works include the complete restoration of the historic steps. This set of steps connects the kiosk at the top of the hill to the bandstand and main park area at the bottom.  All old granite kerbs are to be retained for use elsewhere in the park. The new works will include the installation of new, high quality, solid, cut granite treads, plinth details and paving. These works are scheduled to be complete by Q1 2024.

Seating Installation

New seats will be installed throughout the entire park at suitable locations. These will be high quality benches fitted with backrests and armrests. These works are scheduled to be complete by Q1 2024.

Planting

Extensive tree, hedge, bulb and herbaceous planting will be undertaken at Phoenix Terrace to strengthen the sense of arrival to the park and to integrate some recent interventions into the setting. These works are scheduled to be complete by Q1 2024.

In the recent Tidy Towns’ awards Blackrock improved on its 2022 performance in every category.   There has been continuous improvement since the first entry into the competition in 2008.  Our thanks, appreciation and congratulations to

Chairperson Marie Baker and her team for their continued excellent work.

The categories involved were:-

• Community – Your Planning and Involvement
• Streetscape & Public Places
• Green Spaces and Landscaping
• Nature and Biodiversity in your Locality
• Sustainability – Doing more with less
• Tidiness and Litter Control
• Residential Streets & Housing Areas
• Approach Roads, Streets & Lanes

In their concluding remarks the Tidy Towns’ judges stated that the committee, volunteers and wider community should be proud of the projects that they have completed for this year’s competition.  They urged everybody to be sure to keep up the good work and they look forward to returning to Blackrock next year.

This is an important initiative proudly supported by local volunteers, Local Authority Water Programme (LAW Pro), Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Community Foundation Ireland and Cloisters Residents Association, with the common aim of promoting biodiversity and improving the quality of the water system in Carysfort Park Lake.

The background to this initiative is that the Lake in Carysfort Park is a unique habitat of plants, birds, insects and wildlife. The lake resides in close proximity to housing estates, and is fed from the Brewery Stream that flows down from the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. The water from the lake feeds into Dublin Bay, a UNESCO recognised Biosphere, at Blackrock. Carysfort Park itself is classed as a Biosphere buffer zone.

Despite the diverse ecology of the lake and its environs, the water quality and flow of the Brewery Stream is not actively monitored and managed in so far as it impacts on the environment. The water quality is classed as poor.

The vision of this initiative is to improve and sustain the quality of the water supply, and stimulate the diversity of the ecology. It will do this through 2 strands. Firstly, through the development of a Biodiversity Action Plan by an established ecologist, supported by Community Foundation Ireland.  Secondly, through improvement of water quality through survey and correction of drains along the Brewery Stream, as funded by Local Authority Water Programme (LAW Pro) supported by DLR’s Water Pollution Control Section.

We recently changed our name from Blackrock Business Network to Blackrock Business Association (BBA).   Our email address has also changed to bba@blackrock.ie.  If you are a business, please take a look at your listing on our website www.blackrock.ie and let us know if your listing needs to be amended or updated.

The DLR Public Participation Network October ezine is out, with many updates on local community initiatives, events, training opportunities, funding and consultations.

To read the ezine please click here

NOVEMBER TRAINING: –

• 1 November 2023 – Understanding how your local council works to include PPN  – To register, click here
• 2 November 2023 – WordPress 3 – Building your other pages, security and essential plugins (speed, SEO, etc.) – To register, email info@dublincityppn.ie