About SAMRA

SAMRA began with a group of residents of Sandymount concerned at the creeping loss of beach and sea at Sandymount as an environmental and recreational amenity for the citizens of Dublin.

In 1957 Sandymount Residents Association was formed to end the use of Sandymount Strand as the main refuse dump for Dublin City. An agreement was reached with the then Dublin Corporation that all dumping would cease in 1963 at a point close to the city end of Beach Road near the present Sean Moore Road.

That Association expanded in 1965 to become the Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association because of Dublin Corporation’s plans to fill in the whole of the Strands as far as the City boundary at Merrion Gates with municipal, industrial, and hazardous waste, in breach of the agreement, and the construction of a rubble causeway across Sandymount Strand by Roadstone to a site in the sea for an unauthorised cement plant. The causeway was described by Dublin Corporation as “a line of advance filling”. Neither the causeway nor the Roadstone site had any planning permission. The beaches had by that time been zoned as areas of High Amenity with the stated objective of declaring them an area of Special Amenity under the 1963 Planning Act.

Sandymount and Merrion Strands were used extensively by thousands of Dublin families as their seaside playground and, for many, their only affordable holiday resort.

Achievements

The final cessation of large scale dumping by the end of 1978, with the additional promise by the Local Authority that all land reclaimed from the sea up to that date, and not needed for essential Port purposes, would be public parkland. [Some garbage dumping did in fact continue to a limited degree in the period up to 1981 which included the “bin” mens strike.

Pressure from SAMRA led to the creation of Sean Moore Park [originally called Beach Park] and of Irishtown Nature Park, in line with proposals from the Association.

Prevention of the construction of an oil refinery on part of the remaining Sandymount Strand.

Participation in the oral hearing to prevent the construction of underground storage caverns for liquid petroleum gases, propane and butane, in the seabed.

The original design and landscaping of the promenade to cover the Dodder Valley Drainage Scheme pipes laid on Sandymount Strand, in order to create an amenity for Dubliners.

The protection and preservation of Sandymount Green, and the designation of part of Sandymount Village as a Conservation Area.

Having Sandymount Strand zoned as an SAC and SPA.

Traffic Speed Control – 50Km/Hr on Strand Road and 30KpH in Sandymount Village

Addition of Pedestrian Crossing Lights – Strand Road, Gilford Road, Sandymount Green

BANNING of HGVs in Sandymount Village and Strand Road

The Association also holds a community event for children and families of the area in Sandymount Green in June each year and at Christmas for the lighting up of the Christmas tree. Prior to Dublin City Council generously providing us with a “real” Christmas tree and lights, the Association had since the 1960s lit up one of the trees in the Green with the support of the small traders in the village.