Our Ref: 29N.PA0043 P.A.Reg.Ref:

Your Ref:

Sean Finn 15 Faulkner's Terrace Kilmainham Dublin 8

8th October 2015

Dear Sir,

Re: Health Infrastructure Development comprising National Paediatric Hospital, Innovation Centre and Family Accommodation Unit at St James' Hospital Campus, Satellite Centres at Tallaght & Connolly Hospitals and Construction Compound at Davitt Road, Dublin.

An Bord Pleanala

An Bord Pleamila has received your recent submission in relation to the above mentioned proposed development and will take it into consideration in its determination of the matter. A receipt for the fee lodged is enclosed.

The Board will revert to you in due course with regard to the matter.

Please be advised that copies of all submissions I observations received in relation to the application will be made available for public inspection at the offices of Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council and at the offices of An Bord Pleanala when they have been processed by the Board.

If you have any queries in the meantime please contact the undersigned officer of the Board. Please quote the above mentioned An Bord Pleanala reference number in any correspondence or telephone contact with the Board.

Yours faithfully,

ifc•~ ~~ eran Somers Executive Officer Direct Line:Ol-8737107

Encls.

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An Bord Pleanala

64 Marlborough St

Dublin 1

Re: The National Pediatric Hospital planning application at StJames's Hospital Case reference: PL29N.PA0043

Submission from Sean Finn (resident)

Fee enclosed : €50 Address for correspondence:

. AN BORD PLEANALA Received: oz..[, 0 II >" , Fee: f So.OO

Receipt No: 1; \ ~ t \ S 0

15 Faulkner's Terrace

Kilmainham

Dublin 8 LTR·DATED __ _

PL

A frightening fact! The NCH (construction) entrance proposed for Faulkner's Terrace Is 14 paces from our homes.

The following is very much a personal response and in particular concerns the implications of the

granting of any planning permission for the NCH for the residents of Faulkner's Terrace and those in

the immediate proximity.

I was genuinely astonished when I heard that it was planned to put such an important Hospital

entrance on Faulkner's Terrace. I really thought that It was somebody's idea of a very bad joke. And

when I found it that the plan was real my only thought was that the people who had come up with it

were either mad or desperate or both.

I am now 61 and have lived in the same house all my life- when I was a child we were regularly told

that we would be put out of our houses "very soon" because the road needed to be widened I That

was well over 55 years ago- the road has never been widened and traffic regularly simply stops

moving for long periods as residents or regular commuters or car drivers can easily confirm- (date

stamped photographs and videos (taken by myself) are available which can confirm this.)

It must be mentioned too that the road is a dangerous road and there have been several fatalities on

it over the years.

While the volume of traffic is very high overall there are periods when speeding is a real danger too

because the road is straight for a good stretch and this presents danger for traffic exiting the hospital

onto the main road.

In addition to the usual peak periods the road is often very busy late at night and into the early

morning hours because it is a popular route for taxis going to and from the city centre this is

particularly so at weekends when taxis are relentless for many hours.

If must also be noted that if construction traffic is to come from the lnchicore direction then it will

be constantly turning right against oncoming traffic and given the proposed frequency of such traffic

there is surely a danger of collisions with implications not just for the drivers of the cars/lorries

involved but also pedestrians and residents in their houses due to the narrowness of the road. The

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implications of a heavily laden truck spinning out of control and wreaking havoc surely bear

consideration. There is also the question of heavily laden vehicles leaving the site and attempting to

enter traffic heading towards lnchicore on Faulkner's Terrace. In addition to the construction vehicles there presumably will also be service vehicles, contractors vehicles delivery vehicles etc all

needing access to the site.

It is very difficult to believe that this sharp increase in the road usage, the constant disruption of the

flow of traffic from heavy vehicles attempting to enter the site will not have serious implications for

commuters and car drivers. Surely it is very important to get the views of Dublin Bus on the

implications for their services of this proposal. Particularly given the emphasis being put on the use

of public transport by hospital staff in the proposal.

As the economy improves the amount of traffic on what is a key road for access to the city and out

of it will only increase. In the immediate future if the NCH goes ahead the volumes on the road of

heavy trucks are going to have very serious implications for the residents and commuters.

Naturally my concerns are for the implications for the residents of any go ahead for the building of

the NCH. Already Dublin City Council's obsession with minimising disruption for cars with scant

regard for people in the homes is readily apparent. Dublin City Council insist that any work to be

carried out on the road or any that might interfere in any way with traffic must be carried out in the

evening or at weekends. There has never been any consultation with the residents in the area by

DCC of the implications for their quality of life of such decisions.

Some preliminary work in respect of the NCH was carried out in the past year in the evening by

contractors who worked up to llpm and showed no regard whatsoever for residents. The work was

noisy- engines were left running totally unnecessarily -lights flashed regularly into people's houses

and children's bedrooms. Engagement with such contractors is always stressful- they do not care

about residents and their only concern is to get job done- no contractor is ever chosen based on

their past record of dealing well with residents. In my personal experience requests to turn off

engines of lorries- which can easily be heard in our houses were met with unneces~sa!!X.U~~~~ Of course there is never anyone responsible appointed to deal with the \!)1~tiii&~~ when such work is being carried out. There Is no reason to expect a ffer~~~sponse irQlie ev..;~M--~ of the NCH getting the go ahead. 1\tAE------ n\C.

n 1 orJ 1u \"J It cannot be emphasised enough that Faulkner's Terrace is just that- terrace- Ho"front gardens

and only feet from the main road and yards from what will be a constr tion sit~e.tf-s statecfMW

the proposed construction entrance is only 14 paces from our homes. L\R·0~ -----

The granting of planning permission will effectively condemn us to live o

the very least the next five years and probably many more.

General Health Concerns

Ullding site for at

The role of the proposed new entrance as a construction entrance raises many, many concerns for

the residents of the area- it potentially has devastating consequences for the health of the people

in the area young and old. There is the noise and environmental pollution aspect of so many big

trucks so persistently using the entrance. There is the issue of the material being transported. It is

inevitable that this will find its way onto the street as dust dirt etc. It will find its way into our homes

which are only yards away from the entrance. It will its way into our bodies as we breathe- it will

find its way into the already stretched shores/drains and this is particularly concerning as Faulkner's

Terrace is very much a flood prone area and the shores/drains are not well maintained by DCC.

Many of the houses on the Terrace have suffered serious flood damage in the past both from the

Camac River and the inability of the shores/drains on the street to deal with consistent heavy rain.

Additionally at times of heavy rain water regularly pours out of the shores onto the road to add the

pressures from the rain and this has implications for the proposal to move the Drimnagh pipe to

Faulkner's Terrace.

There is the implications of the removal of the waste material from St. James of huge amounts of

building and other material from the buildings to be knocked down. How can residents know what is

in this material and how it will be safely transported and packaged given the pressure to get it out of

the way as soon as possible? On a windy day, for example, how will be be protected from dust and

loose material being blown off these trucks on to the street and eventually into our homes and

bodies? Who will be directly responsible for these operations?

There is also the issue of noise from these trucks. We live in very small houses- many people sleep

on the ground floor right at the front of the houses- it is also important to remember that even in

the two storey houses in the majority of houses because of their age were not well designed and

there are no back bedrooms.

We are told that these deliveries will take place off peak hours but this has serious implications for

us as residents- what exactly does off peak mean? Again the emphasis on off peak shows concern

for disrupting traffic but not disrupting the lives of people in their homes?

Additionally the huge numbers of journeys of these heavily laden trucks are going to gouge up the

roads and play havoc with the surface -when are these roads going to be repaired?

A number of years ago when DCC decided to repair the road they wanted to carry out the repairs

during the night over several nights. No consideration was given whatsoever the implications for the

residents and the basic right to sleep. When we objected they seemed genuinely surprised!! These

speaks volumes about the way DCC and indeed other institutions view the people of this area. We

Other Health Implications

For many years StJames Hospital has been content to have the hu e amount of land befifR•d Tn.,.-­

railing which is the proposed gate for the new hospital effectively g q_~fdW.t.noarany con

The disturbance which the clearing of this land will cause to rodents is of very serious concern to the

residents. It is very difficult to believe that given the close proximity of our houses to the site that

this concern is not a very legitimate one. Already carelessness in respect of any such risk has been

demonstrated by the NCHB when one of their contractors used a very strong drill emitting up to

9Sdb of noise over several hours and several days in June 2015. No thought was given to the

disturbance of rodents by this work and no efforts were made to seal the area to protect nearby

houses (also no efforts were made to minimise the noise of the drilling- a subject to be returned to

later).

The stress of living effectively on a building site for such a long period, the constant noise, the dust

and dirt, and the inevitable aggravation of dealing with contractors and having to fight for basic

rights has very seriously implications for the residents health and basic quality of life.

It is important to remember that many people now do not work regular hours and require to sleep

during the day- such a life style may become impossible in the event of the NCH going ahead.

There are also very serious implications for people who are housebound or ill and at home in the

face of such constant noise and disruption. There are also concerns for people with asthma or other

allergies from the inevitable increase in air pollution.

The traffic jams are already a concern to residents with traffic stalled outside our houses and

emitting pollution. There is going to be considerable more pollution of this nature with the increase

in traffic due to construction traffic etc.

As the recent VW scandal as shown in relation to emissions we really do not know the true levels of

what is being emitted into the atmosphere by vehicles and potentially other machinery also.

Trust and Respect

Unfortunately given my experience of dealing with St. James Hospital and more recently the NPHDB

it is very difficult to have any trust or confidence in any assurances given. It is important to

remember that there is every likelihood of the persons given these assurances will have moved on as

the project progresses and who is going to be held accountable then when all these assurances are

conveniently forgotten?

I live directly opposite the St. James Energy Centre and over many years I have been plagued with

vibrations coming from the centre. It is possible on occasion to feel such vibrations coming up

through my bed and this is an incredibly stressful experience and has resulted in the loss of many

nights sleep over the years.

Attempting to address these problems with the hospital has been very trying indeed. For example if 5

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a problem occurs during the night I just have to put up with it. There is no wayrof c~,nta~mg-anyone NI-\U.\ in the energy centre at that time. Ringing the switchboard is useless. At one sta iiMlumber of years ago such was the frequency of the noise and disruption to my life that I was ex1 erierfctfllrtha f''"the .......,.----~ manager of the Energy Centre arranged to have monitoring equipment put intc my houseQ:~ BEi t6t9 measure the noise over several days and nights and promised me that I would et a copy of the i: ~t:.:~~ .....--.­

report. When the report was finally produced he flatly refused to provide mew hTit.Wt1~~- ri~IJIVI , ~ · · ·•

. . I.IP~Litml~is======::;;t last October (2014) my health was threatened by constant low n01se (drone hk~' .wa.,

eventually found to be caused by a fault in the water pumps. This did not occur every night (but

averaged at least two out of every three nights) but I never knew on which night it would occur and

when it did I simply got no sleep whatsoever. It took over a month for the hospital to resolve the

problem during which absolutely no concern was shown for my health. I am a diabetic and I suffer

from high blood pressure - neither condition is helped by stress or lack of sleep. I had to constantly

badger the hospital authorities to take action on this but no urgency was shown and at one stage I

was told by the Chief Executive to get some ear plugs! I had to sleep in a friend's house on several

occasions to actually get a night's sleep. I have copies of email sent to the hospital in the middle of

the night to put on record the disruption caused to my life and health. I had to threaten to picket the

hospital and ring newspapers to get some action on this. At no stage did hospital management

attempt to liaise with me so as to ascertain which nights the noise actually occurred so as do identify

the machinery causing it.

7

One might ask what relevance this experience has to the current application. The relevance is that it

shows the attitude of the hospital authorities over the years to the people of the area. We are often

described as "neighbours" but this is just PR blather when it suits them and there is no reason to

believe anything will change in the future. For example after yet another noisy night some months

ago I emailed the hospital complaining and asking for an explanation -I am still waiting for a

response . And I do not know from one night to the next when the next disruption will come. Other

people in the area have had bad experiences with the hospital authorities too so I am not alone in

distrusting them

The experience with the NPHDB to date had been similar. They claim to be "Mindful" of our

concerns but yet this has not been the case at all to date and no respect or concern has been shown

to us. For example Apex Surveys was contracted to do work on their behalf- this work was carried

out in the middle of the night and involved quite noisy work -lifting manhole covers and dropping

them noisily when the work was finished- this directly under our windows- and dragging various

pieces of equipment around without any attempt to minimise noise. When contacted the NCHDB

representatives cried crocodile tears etc etc. The contractor Apex Surveys treated me with total

contempt when I complained to them about the noise etc etc.

Contractors carrying out preliminary work are supposed to notify residents well in advance of the

nature of the work, timing etc etc This is supposed to be an indication of good will. However it has

been nothing of the sort to date and it is obvious that the contractors just see it as a chore to be to

be got out of the way. Many of the notifications to date have been vague and misleading and again show no respect for the residents.

In one case I received a letter from a company which had so many errors in it I felt I had to contact

them to com plain - when I spoke to the person who supposedly had issued it- she told me she did

not know the contents of it and was not even aware that it had been issued.

In another more serious case referred to earlier drilling was carried out on the site on Faulkner's

Terrace just across the road from our houses. In the notification we received from the contractor we

were told that noise would be kept to a minimum. Vet on several days the noise levels reached 95 db

a very dangerous level for hearing and a very stressful experience for residents. The contractor

subsequently admitted to me when I contacted him that no effort had been made to minimise the

noise levels. The contractor also inferred that I was a crank as no other complaints had been

received.

The NCHDB claim to be mindful of our concerns- surely this was a perfect opportunity to

demonstrate this so called concern- they could have informed us in advance of the noise levels we

could be experiencing and attempted to agree with residents a plan for the work and make real

efforts to minimise the noise. Nothing of this nature was even attempted. I should mention that

they would have known of the noise we would be experiencing as the drilling equipment in this case

had to be specially imported and the contractor informed me that noise levels were detailed in the

tender document. When I met with representatives of the NCHOB in respect of this matter their

attitude was put up with it. What does that say about what we have to lool< forward to?

Additionally in preparation for the drilling the contractor blocked the ootpa~b.to.tally with a truck

without providing an alternative marked passage as they should -thereby forcirlf ~e'efle off the footpath and out into oncoming traffic- we had to contact the hospi I to get them to move the

truck When it was pointed out the same NCHDB representatives that bi~~M~~i~!~e- !a~~~e.....;;~

PL

response was "contactors do these type of things!" Photographic evidence is available of this

behaviour.

So who can residents have any ongoing trust and confidence in either StJames Hospital

Management or the NCHDB given the demonstrable contempt and lack of concern to date?

Car Parking

Because of the width of the road and volumes of traffic already using the road car parking spaces for

residents are extremely limited in number. It is very difficult for normal activity such as deliveries to houses by business or visits by tradesmen etc. The advent of the Children's Hospital is going to put huge pressure on the spaces in the area.

Drimnagh Drain

As mentioned earlier the terrace is extremely flood prone. Any information on this statement can be

easily ascertained from residents who have suffered the effects and DCC should be only too well aware of it. I cannot emphasise enough my objections to the proposal to relocate the Drimnagh Drain and its implications both in terms of the work involved and its mere existence for the residents

of the area. The simple physical work noise pollution etc of locating it on Faulkner's Terrace does not bear thinking about in terms of its implications and the effects it will have on residents. There is no doubt that because of the disruption to traffic such work will involve that DCC will insist on it being carried out at off peak hours with dire consequences for residents.

Future of energy centre.

There appears to be plans to change the role of the Energy Centre in time to come with implications

again for residents - if the role changes to a sort of services building there could be serious noise well over a 24 hour period and again there are serious implications for residents. It is dismaying that there could be any consideration given to any such proposal given the proximity of the proposed location to houses.

Summary

As detailed above the granting of permission to proceed with the NCH will have calamitous effects on the lives of the residents of Faulkner's Terrace. Other submissions will cover the suitability of the location from various points of view and I would agree with many of them particularly those citing

access difficulties. It is astonishing that anyone could consider the location suitable just from that aspect alone. I would also join with others in expressing concern with the lack of consideration given

by the Government to the Dolphin Report. Again this lack of any in depth analysis beggars belief.

I would welcome the opportunity to expand on this submission at any oral hearing which may be -~w .-. AN BORD PLEANALA

TIME -BY ___ _, -----0 .l OCT 20\5

LTR-DAiEO ____ FROM __ __,

Sean Finn

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