The M50 bridge at Leopardstown Racecourse has the potential to be a fantastic active travel link for local residents and commuters. But what’s happening with it? Why has it taken so long for it to be properly opened up for public use? There is definitely willingness from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, including councillors and council officials, to open up the bridge as a pedestrian and cycling link.
I have been looking for answers as to why the project has stalled, and will continue advocating for it to be prioritised by all the various stakeholders. Here’s what’s happening with the project and where the challenges are.
Land ownership
By far the biggest challenge for the council is that the bridge itself and the land on either side is owned by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI). HRI is a commercial semi-state company and according to the HRI website, “through its board, reports to the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine”. This means that HRI are not accountable to the local council in how they manage their lands.
The yellow line below is roughly where the greenway could run along HRI land.
There is a section of the greenway (green line above) already built by the Department of Education across the strip of land between Holy Trinity National School and Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School. This bit of greenway was built by the Department of Education as part of a planning condition on the building of SETSS.
Opening up the bridge
To open up the M50 bridge at Leopardstown Racecourse, and the greenway a few things need to happen:
- Horse Racing Ireland need to open up their lands for public use. People are using these lands unofficially at the moment, but to install a proper greenway there would need to be a more formal arrangement.
- Some minor construction works need to happen on the HRI lands to connect the existing roadway over the bridge with the school section of the greenway. There’s very little cost involved in this and the council have been trying to reach an agreement with HRI on how this would be funded and the works carried out. It would also have to include public lighting, which might be the trickier part of the works.
- The fences on either end of the school section of the greenway would need to be taken down. But this can only happen once the pathway connections are made at either end. At the moment it wouldn’t be safe to just take down the fences. The Department of Education can’t be expected to take down the fences until the paths are installed at either end.
This isn’t a new proposal at all. It was in the Local Area Plan (LAP) for this area that was approved by councillors in 2019, see below. Unfortunately, LAPs cannot force land-owners to do things with their lands. It is only used when a planning application comes in, the council decision on the application must be consistent with the LAP.
Campaign to open the M50 bridge at Leopardstown
I put a motion down in February that the council formally write to HRI to ask for their plans to open up the bridge, due to the lack of apparent progress on this project.
For years I have been told by council officials that they have been in discussions with HRI to open up the bridge, but I’m not satisfied with the lack of any progress and the lack of any firm commitments to open up the bridge.
The CEO of HRI Racecourses, Paul Dermody, replied to the letter issued by the council and I have uploaded that reply here. HRI’s reply is that opening up the bridge is an objective that they have, but there is a lack of detail on how and when this will happen.
I have written to Mr Dermody myself directly to seek a meeting between HRI and all local councillors, to find solutions to getting the bridge opened up and the greenway connection built. Mr Dermody’s response is that HRI would be happy to meet with local councillors in the coming months, following the finalisation of their negotiations with the LDA about the housing site east of the racecourse.
What’s next for the Leopardstown Racecourse bridge?
The council and Horse Racing Ireland need to work together to agree on how to deliver this low-cost piece of infrastructure. I’ll continue to push for this collaboration until the Leopardstown Racecourse bridge is open and accessible to the public.
Related projects
This greenway project has been mentioned in the Racecourse South lands Local Transport Plan. The transport plan was developed to prepare for the development of lands owned by HRI that are zoned for housing and recently transferred over to the Land Development Agency. This plan was recently published in May 2025 and it mentions the M50 overbridge at Leopardstown Racecourse.
Eirgrid’s Powering Up Dublin project will bring high voltage electricity cables through Leopardstown Racecourse and using the overbridge to reach the Carrickmines Substation. More info on that here. Construction is expected to begin on that project in 2027 but it shouldn’t in any way prevent the opening of the pedestrian/cycle link here.
