The parish of Swords in north Dublin has abandoned an ambitious plan
to pay off its debts and build a new parish centre through the
controversial sale of property to the German discount supermarket chain
Aldi.Parish priest Fr Cyril Mangan has announced that, because of planning permission problems and the unpopularity of the proposal among parishioners, the sale to Aldi of a former parochial house and a .6 hectare site will not go ahead.
He said that the parish would try to
finance its deficit and a parish centre through the sale of two other
properties and fund-raising events.
The sale was conditional on planning permission and the proposal for a
supermarket and car park on the site at Seatown Road was opposed by all
five local councillors, largely on the grounds that it would generate
traffic congestion.
St Colmcille’s parish has a €1.3m overdraft and is pushing ahead with
a €3m development of its parish to provide extra pastoral facilities.
But Fr Mangan said that in the light of “a number of factors,” the sale
of property to Aldi was not going ahead.
“We won’t be proceeding; we’ve taken into consideration the community
feeling and weighed up was it going to best serve our interests,” he
said. “There were a number of factors – respect for residents and
difficulty with planning.”
The first phase of the new parish centre has been completed and a new
parish office is on course to open by the end of the year.
Fr Mangan
said the parish owns two other properties, which he is hopeful would
raise money.
“They are on the market and we are anxious to hear from interested
parties, and if we get sufficient capital from them, we can proceed to
phase two.”
The existing parish centre is a protected structure so can only have
minor alterations but a single-storey extension is being erected for
parish offices.
The long-term objective of the parish was for a
fully-fledged parish centre that would be available to all residents and
groups in the town, which grew substantially during the boom.
The parish centre itself ran into planning problems and permission was delayed by Fingal County Council because the wastewater treatment plant for the town was at full capacity.
The parish centre itself ran into planning problems and permission was delayed by Fingal County Council because the wastewater treatment plant for the town was at full capacity.
The parish council had to demonstrate that the parish centre would
not increase effluent discharge into the overloaded water treatment
facilities.