Also would be nice to have more passive facilities where a family and friends can have an impromtu gathering for a small celebration, where there are expanses of green grass for unorganized volleyball, soccer or just a group of friends and family playing catch or fly kites.

Currently for example at Emerald Glen we have a wonderful family picnic area which requires reservation, not too bad but it is located in an odd location away from the kids water feature on the opposite end of the park. Also the grassy area surrounding it are not open to the general public without reservation, you would also have to pay a fee to use it by the hour. If a family wanted to have a Bday party for their 5 year old child and wanted to setup some games on the lawn they can’t. The Parks people will say you can use it unless it is reserved. Well one has no way of knowing if a group will show up at 1PM claiming they reserved it thus you’d have to take down the volleyball nets and put a stop to the kids playing, not a chance you want to take.

We have plenty of first class sports parks, geared towards organized sports, even the future Fallon Park is predominantly a sports park. We just don’t have a whole lot for families.

Hopefully the Heritage Park will give us something different that we don’t have much of here in Dublin.