Green light for Greenogue - though key concerns remain

WITH planning permission granted by South Dublin County Council for Horse Sport Ireland’s plans for a ‘Centre of Excellence’ at Greenogue Equestrian in Rathcoole, objector Chris Byrne said key concerns remain unaddressed.

The planning decision made on August 23rd is listed as ‘Granted’ in the South Dublin County Council’s planning applications section.

It grants permission for the creation of a ‘sport horse Centre of Excellence’ comprising a new indoor sand arena (3,759 sq.m); extension of existing main outdoor jumping sand arena to a total of 4,000sq.m; a two-storey training and administration facility, veterinary and hay sheds, a two-storey visitors block and a single storey building to accommodate a laboratory for ‘an Assisted Reproduction Programme’.

In addition, it includes provision for a total of 70 car and bicycle parking spaces and lorry area on a 7.88 hectare site at Tay Lane, Greenogue, Rathcoole, Co Dublin.

Ongoing concerns

Despite concerns raised in the Dáil and on the airwaves, the only objections lodged to the HSI plans were made by Chris Byrne as owner of Kildare’s Coilog Equestrian Centre and from Byrne on behalf of ECVOA – the Equestrian Competition Venues Owners Alliance group – of which he is the appointed spokesperson.

This week Chris Byrne told The Irish Field that he and ECVOA would “be looking at the granting of permission and examining all the options including possibly taking a case to An Bord Pleanala if needs be.”

Byrne added: “It is not the granting of permission that is actually the issue. It is the way it was sought, the lack of proper consultation by HSI with key industry stakeholders, the manner that HSI forged ahead with this is a worry that has not been addressed.

“Key concerns of the main venues like ourselves in ECVOA is that we know, as owners and operators of competition centres, the costs involved, the ongoing maintenance costs going forward, and nothing has been presented to allay these fears – we fear a constant drain of industry resources going forward which has not been taken into account. The underlying fears expressed by the industry earlier on have still yet to be addressed,” said Byrne on behalf of ECVOA.

Business fears

ECVOA fear that any competition equestrian centre within a 50-mile perimeter of either Abbotstown or a HSI-backed Greenogue Equestrian Centre will suffer financially as a result.

“You can see that is happening with the National Training Centre in Abbotstown which is actively looking for people to host shows, this is totally displacing the whole side of the equestrian industry built up with private funds over decades. It is an unfair playing field as State funds are being used,” concluded Chris Byrne.

Acting CEO of HSI Joe Reynolds said that they had made a €1.5 million 2022 Budget submission for the development of a Young Horse Production Pathway. “We are committed to direct regional spend,” he said yesterday (Friday).