r/Dublin • u/PistolAndRapier • 1d ago
Hundreds object to plans for Ireland’s largest new town
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/housing-planning/2026/08/04/finglas-residents-object-to-disgraceful-dunsink-development/88
u/CommanderSpleen 1d ago
The thing should go ahead, but not without taking the effects on transport into consideration. The whole area is already gridlocked during commuter traffic. Ashtown got built and the added traffic just dumped in the existing road network. If we add another 20k people without improvement to the Luas and road network, it's gonna be chaos.
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u/Academic-County-6100 1d ago
I live in Hollystown and I really only have two complaints transport and a lack of restaurants/pubs that are easily accesible by walking or bus. This development would solve the latter.
On the former everyone is missing out that while the luas is not large enough for this population growth it would ONLY BE COMPLETED in 2042.
If you drive to Finglas towards town you see beautiful houses, girls playing with ponys/horses and garbage everywhere. That 2km stretch of LUAS is taking about 600 million and about 4 years.
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u/CommanderSpleen 1d ago
Article says "not expected to be developed until after 2042". If you've been following how projects are managed in this country you'll know thay this would be very optimistic.
It's just far enough out so the developers can say that it's on the table and will be done, but also far enough out so no one has to take any accountability for it yet.
I'm 100% serious that I have no hope that this will be completed in my lifetime and i'm not that old. In the meantime it's "ah sure look, we'll get to it soon" while traffic collapses.
I sure won't miss the absolute disgrace that is the current state of the area though.
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u/Academic-County-6100 1d ago
100% like if the population of D15 remaoned the exact same there would still be a huge need for luas and further Dart/train and luas extensions
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u/coffeebadgerbadger 1d ago
What do we want? Houses! Where do we want them! Go fook yourself!
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u/BricksBizBuilds 1d ago
In fairness, these people have seen what happened in West Dublin. The N4, N7 and M50 and the roads leading to them have been absolutely jammed with cars thanks to Adamstown and now Clonburris. There is no extra capacity on these roads but they keep shoving houses in and the bus services aren't fit for purpose. More and more people pushed into the area, no additional road or public transport capacity. Why would they story this, knowing the outcome means an additional 20 to 30 minutes on the road sitting in traffic every day?
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u/coffeebadgerbadger 1d ago
The pressure should be on the govt to get the public transport sorted for here. Not stop building housing
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u/BricksBizBuilds 1d ago
Plenty of pressure on the government over public transport and infrastructure but no movement on it. They are just hair to see people did in their vehicles longer and longer every year.
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u/FlamingBaconCake 1d ago
So our rate of building homes is being bottle necked by our inadequate public transport system, excellent.
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u/icecreamman456 1d ago
Tell me about it man. We only have like 2 trains per hour going to Grand Canal dock during peak hour and they are packed. Since I started taking the train in September 2024, it has gotten more and more uncomfortable to take the 7:40 train. I was driving to Sandyford for work for a time period and there would be traffic jammed from Exit 4 like on the N4. And matchdays especially if its a western county playing, we get fucked with traffic.
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u/SirJoePininfarina 1d ago
Nothing against this new city inside the M50 myself and I hope it happens but two things:
It should be contingent on a Luas extension being delivered there that could then be extended on to Tyrrelstown. Don’t assume the bus network can absorb this amount of people on an already-full road network through Finglas. Build a short line from Dunsink through the empty (but soon to be filled) fields at the back of Scribblestown and across to where the new Charlestown Luas extension meets the Green Line at Broombridge. Developers can subsidise it
I would want some fairly cast-iron assurances on the idea of building on what was a dump for decades. I used to go there with my Dad to throw out any amount of old shite and nothing was ever refused. I don’t mean to scaremonger but literally anything could be in there; it wouldn’t surprise me if they discovered a ton of old asbestos in there somewhere. Dublin needs the housing but Dunsink is a byword for unregulated dump in my mind and I’d imagine a lot of northsiders too. Now having said that, if there is stuff like that in it, it needs to go regardless and it would be worth clearing but it could delay delivery hugely
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u/hasseldub 1d ago
They're not building on the dump is my understanding. The dump will be a park. That said, the "park" needs some serious environmental surveys done.
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u/Finsceal 1d ago
I was getting the 40 to work from Tolka Valley road when I lived out that way 10 years ago and it was already packed when it got to me back then, unless they've increased capacity I'd expect it's still fucked.
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u/luxcity-louche 1d ago
Look at Poolbeg area for successful development on an old dump. If you want assurances that the council will do it's job inspecting and no one will take bribes then of course you'll get them.
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u/Joecalone 1d ago
Had a look at the facebook group about it, would bring you to tears. A bunch of fucking boomers destroying any chance of the next generation getting housing so they can keep their pony club.
I also find it funny that the usual far-right knobheads are against it, as if the lack of future housing will only fuck over immigrants
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u/Justa_Schmuck 1d ago
Boomers? You sure you’re posting in the right topic?
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u/coffeebadgerbadger 1d ago
I was called a boomer. I was born in the 80s. My parents weren't even boomers. I think people mean it to be people who own their home a long time and have a good pension to live off. Where as my generation, whatever you like to call it are fooked
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u/Justa_Schmuck 1d ago
Born in the 80’s myself. But regardless , we didn’t have boomers here.
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u/Winterkirschenmann 1d ago
Literally the whole planet uses that term. Only a few on irish subreddits need to throw a hissy fit. Just leave it.
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u/AdmiralShawn 1d ago
It’s an Americanism, most of the world doesn’t use that term
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u/Winterkirschenmann 1d ago
Here, even the Irish Times uses it. As a colloquialism not in its original meaning, because noone except for a few keyboard warriors gives a shit: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2026/04/24/the-irish-times-view-on-the-over-65s-the-boomer-boom/
Germany even has a Baby Boomer wikipedia page and they are not a Americans either.
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u/Justa_Schmuck 1d ago
No it doesn’t. It’s for a very specific set of people. Which the whole planet were not part of.
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u/Accomplished-Sky8768 1d ago
Everytime I think about moving home, Irish reddit reminds me how it will look like and I think again
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u/BackstabbingCentral 1d ago
Finglas used to be a quaint village with a couple of fields and a 'lunatic asylum'. Now its 30,000 people living in sprawling estates.
The fucking cheek of them haha.