Sandymount and Merrion Residents’ Association (SAMRA) held their 41st Annual General Meeting on November the 16th in Scoil Mhuire, Lakelands, Sandymount.

Councillor Wendy Hederman and Councillor Dermot Lacey were in attendance. Cllr Lucinda Creighton, who was overseas, sent her apologies.

Catherine Cavendish as Secretary reported that she had to deal with things as diverse as the damage to the locks in Sandymount Green, which occurred last July and August, and the annoyance that was caused on various weekends by pranksters.

She also received calls from people who lost cats, dogs, and parakeets. She said that the work of the association was extremely time-consuming but SAMRA will always try to assist those who needed its service.

The regular issues were raised about dirt, dog fouling, and blocked drains and Catherine said there had been a slight improvement in this area over the past year. She particularly thanked Paddy Gilmartin who undertakes to keep the area litter-free. His efforts were greatly appreciated by the residents.

Catherine said overall it had been a very busy year with applications for large developments at the RDS, AIB and the Incinerator. SAMRA was successful in moderating the arrangements for the fireworks, so that the Nature Park was spared the worst impact and she said it turned out very well indeed with boats carrying the fireworks up and down the strand.

The Chairperson in her address thanked the councillors for their help through the year and in particular she made a special reference to the help they gave SAMRA with the draft City Development Plan. She also thanked the shopkeepers and traders for their support and in particular Berna O’Gorman for her assistance in collecting subscriptions and signing up members. The Mount Herbert Hotel was also singled out for thanks, for allowing the association to hold its regular meetings there.

The treasurer Liam Handy distributed balance sheets, which showed the association, had a healthy surplus. He thanked Ann Jordan for her assistance with the books. He said Ann had prepared the spreadsheets for him as he was computer illiterate and he had thought a spreadsheet was something one put on a bed.

Lorna Kelly the planning Officer for SAMRA, then gave a brief outline on the numerous planning applications the association were requested to deal with. Lorna pointed out that even when the Association had been successful in stopping inappropriate development, they often had to repeat the process several times on the same site from the same developer.

Lorna spoke about the Fabrizia Development planned for the Poolbeg site and the fact that the developer dumped aggregate on the site at South Bank Road. She said that complaints to Dublin City Council (DCC) had not brought enforcement of the Planning Law and SAMRA had been forced to take action. She said that under the planning Act section 5 they had taken Legal advice and had a solicitor’s letter written to DCC, which cannot be ignored.

The secretary of CRAI (combined residents against incineration) gave an update on the work of the group through the year.

A number of people requested that the existing committee remain in place for a further year, as they appeared to be doing an excellent job.

The committee returned for another year are Joan Mc Arthur, Catherine Cavendish, Lorna Kelly, Liam Handy, Des Flynn, Kieran Best, Tom Ponsonby, Cathal Stanley, Geraldine Foster, Cathal Mallon and Malachy Ryan.

Claire and Briana Foley, two budding young artists.