Merrion Square park criticised as 'football ground'

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Archiseek / Ireland / News / 2004 / December 4 2004: Merrion Square park criticised as 'football ground'

Merrion Square park is a "mess" that has become "an incoherent repository for fatuous, opportunistic, politically correct kitsch", according to a leading town planner. Mr Fergal MacCabe, a past president of the Irish Planning Institute, claims Dublin City Council has "destroyed" the original character and design of the park. As a result, he says, the square has turned into "a repository for myriad pieces of second-rate sculpture and semi-tombstones commemorating tree-plantings by minor dignitaries". Officially named Archbishop Ryan Park, the 11-acre terrain in the heart of Georgian Dublin is owned by the Catholic Church but leased to the city. Aside from its flowerbeds and tree-lined walks, it is dotted with numerous statues, the best known being that of Oscar Wilde. Mr MacCabe is opposed to plans to allow public access to the park in nearby Fitzwilliam Square, on which his offices are located. At present, only local residents and offices have keys to this park and its tennis courts.

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