OUR JOURNEY
2023 - 2026
Three years of asking one simple question:
As thousands of new homes are built, where is the promised community infrastructure to support the people who live in them?
DP Crossroads was established in 2023 by local residents who wanted to see the commitments made for Donabate and Portrane translated into reality.
What began as a campaign for a dedicated Youth, Arts & Cultural Centre has grown into a wider campaign for balanced and sustainable development in other words; where housing, community facilities and essential infrastructure are planned and delivered at the same time.
We are independent, voluntary and not politically affiliated. We support development. We support investment in sports, schools, transport and other community facilities. Our message has always been:
It shouldn't be either/or. Our growing community needs MORE for everyone.
Here are 12 moments that have shaped our journey so far:
OCTOBER 2023
A COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN BEGINS:
APRIL 2024TAKING THE CAMPAIGN TO THE COMMUNITY
On 27 April, we held our first major Community Information Day.
Residents came to see the research, talk about the proposed centre, examine the plans and add their names to our petition.
It was an important moment.
The campaign was no longer simply a committee making representations behind closed doors. Residents were becoming involved, asking questions and adding their voices.
The message was beginning to grow.
SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER 2024THE CAMPAIGN GAINS MOMENTUM
Autumn 2024 was a landmark period.
A cross-party motion calling on Fingal County Council to identify a site for a dedicated cultural and youth facility received unanimous support from councillors.
DP Crossroads then took the campaign to a national audience on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk.
And on 14 October, we formally presented our petition to Fingal County Council.
More than 2,000 people had signed it.
More than 2,000 individual voices asking for our growing community to receive the facilities it needs.
It remains one of the defining moments of our campaign.
NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER 2024THE COMMUNITY SAYS: KEEP GOING
Following our first AGM in January 2025, we decided that the next step should not be determined by the committee alone.
So we went back to the community.
On 5 March 2025, residents packed into a public meeting to discuss what had happened, what had been achieved and where the campaign should go next.
The discussion was open, sometimes challenging, and hugely important.
The message from the room was overwhelmingly clear:
Keep going.
That community mandate mattered.
2025-2026THE LIBRARY DEBATE
The relocation of Donabate Library to Ballisk House became another major focus.
We consistently questioned whether relocating the existing library into a smaller space could reasonably be presented as the answer to the wider cultural and community needs of a population heading towards 20,000.
Despite repeated reassurances that further development would follow, the experience reinforced an important principle for us:
Promises of future infrastructure are not the same as infrastructure delivered.
As the community struggles with an inadequate library, we continue to support a strong, properly sized library for Donabate alongside, not instead of, dedicated youth, arts, cultural and community facilities.
DP Crossroads grew from a public meeting where residents came together over a shared concern: Donabate and Portrane were growing rapidly, but the indoor facilities available for youth, arts, culture and community life were not growing with them.
A committee was formed and DP Crossroads was formally constituted in November 2023.
Our goal was clear from the outset; to campaign for the delivery of the dedicated Youth, Arts & Cultural Centre envisaged in the Donabate Local Area Plan and for community infrastructure that reflects the size of our growing population.
OCTOBER 2023FROM AN IDEA TO A REAL PROPOSAL
It wasn't enough to say "we need a centre."
DP Crossroads began researching how a modern, multifunctional Youth, Arts & Cultural Centre could actually work.
We consulted community organisations, arts and cultural groups and youth interests. We examined possible operating models, funding opportunities and facilities elsewhere.
The result was a developing business case for a flexible community facility capable of accommodating youth activities, performances, rehearsals, exhibitions, workshops, meetings and community events.
We wanted to demonstrate not only why it was needed - but how it could work.
SUMMER 2024LOOKING BEYOND ONE BUILDING
As thousands of new homes moved through the planning system, our focus began to widen.
We examined major planning applications and the Community & Social Infrastructure Audits being used to assess whether sufficient facilities existed to support new development.
We questioned population assumptions, the facilities being counted and whether existing buildings could realistically meet the needs of a rapidly expanding community.
Our campaign was becoming about something bigger:
Homes and infrastructure must be delivered together.
2024 - 2025
NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER 2024OUR STORY REACHES A NATIONAL AUDIENCE
In November, RTÉ came to Donabate as part of its General Election coverage to look at the challenges facing one of Ireland's rapidly growing communities.
Youth facilities, population growth and the shortage of community infrastructure were now part of a national conversation.
In December, DP Crossroads met directly with Fingal County Council's Chief Executive and senior officials.
We brought the evidence, the survey results, the petition and the community's concerns directly to those responsible for planning our area's future.
By now, it was impossible to say that the issue had not been raised.
CHALLENGING BALLYMASTONE
Ballymastone became a critical test of a much bigger question:
Can thousands of homes be delivered without the community infrastructure promised alongside them?
DP Crossroads appealed Phase 2 and subsequently commenced Judicial Review proceedings, citing what we believed were serious failures to comply with the Local Area Plan and planning requirements.
The Judicial Review became divisive within the community.
We ultimately withdrew the proceedings rather than risk delaying the sports facilities and creating further community division.
But our fundamental question remained unanswered:
Where was the infrastructure to accompany the housing?.
2026STILL SCRUITINISING. STILL ASKING QUESTIONS
By 2026, almost three years after DP Crossroads was established, the scale of development on the peninsula had become increasingly visible.
Our work expanded to include scrutiny of Ballymastone Phase 3, developer-proposed community spaces, Community & Social Infrastructure Audits, planning amendments, the library extension and other infrastructure commitments.
We continued making submissions, engaging with councillors and officials, publishing newsletters and explaining complex planning issues in accessible ways through our website and social media.
The question remained remarkably simple:
Is the infrastructure being provided genuinely adequate for the community we are becoming?
SEPTEMBER 2026
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
Three years on, Donabate looks very different.
Thousands of homes have been built, approved or are under construction.
Our population continues to grow.
And yet the central issue that brought DP Crossroads together in 2023 remains unresolved.
We still do not have the dedicated Youth, Arts & Cultural Centre envisaged for our community.
We still believe development can be positive.
We still believe new homes are needed.
We still support investment in sports, education, transport and other essential infrastructure.
But a sustainable community requires more than houses.
It needs places to meet, create, perform, learn, belong and simply spend time together.
WE ASKED THE COMMUNITY
FEBRUARY 2024Rather than simply assuming what people wanted, we asked them.
Our Community Recreation & Youth Survey gave residents, particularly young people, an opportunity to tell us what was missing.
The results were striking:
84% supported a dedicated Youth Centre.
84% wanted a dedicated Youth Worker.
83% said there weren't enough safe places locally for young people to hang out.
Those voices became an important part of the evidence behind our campaign.
Our young people were telling us something. We believed they deserved to be heard.
