“He threw a firework my way”-intimidation in Shannon Town Park

THERE have been complaints of anti-social behaviour at Shannon Town Park for months now, and recently a woman and her two-year-old son were left terrified after a firework was thrown in their direction.

She also observed a resident being verbally abused by a teenager, apparently unconcerned for any consequences of his behaviour.

Thirty-five year old Lucia Palacka has lived in Shannon for several years, and herself and her partner are raising their two-year-old son, Luka.

On last Tuesday afternoon at 1.45pm Lucia was approaching the park with Luka in his buggy, when they came across a large group of young people. “There were a lot of kids, I don’t know how many, 15-20 maybe. They were probably at lunch and it would have been time for them to go back. I heard the first firework and when I was coming closer my words were ‘Jesus, can you stop?’ because Luka had said in our language ‘what’s this, I’m scared, Mum, Mum’. I asked them to stop, a few of them had been throwing them in the opposite direction to me. I don’t know if all of them heard me, but one of them was very rude, and he threw a firework my way. I got very scared, I didn’t see where it went, in about a minute or a minute and a half he threw three or four and didn’t look where they were going. The one he threw in my direction I wasn’t sure if it’d come to me or the buggy. They sound very loud when you’re close to them and Luca had never heard anything like that before, so he was scared and crying.”

The fireworks enthusiasts also gave some abuse to residents of Bru na Sionna. “There was a lady on a balcony holding one of the fireworks in her hand giving out to them, saying does that belong to you. He (one of the group of teenagers) was being rude to her, walking backwards, using bad language and giving her the finger.”

Of the firework that was thrown in the direction of herself and Luka, Lucia says, “I don’t believe he meant to throw it straight at me, but I was scared and my child was terrified and when he was upset I felt they were enjoying it more.”

Straight after the firework was thrown their way, there was a particularly frightening moment. “I was wondering was there just one firework or a few. Is it gone into the buggy, is it in his hoodie? I didn’t know where it went.”

As soon as the incident happened she went straight to the Garda station. “I reported it, gave them my number and address. I was shaking, I said to them I was going to meet my friends but I don’t know now if I want to. They said the Guards had already gone to the park, so I walked back there and I met two Guards. They already knew about it, but there was no one else in the park by then. They could see me shaking and when I started talking to them I started crying. I want to say my experience with them, I was very happy with the Guards. They were very nice, very kind, and I felt I was listened to.”

Gardai were in contact with her the following day and she was told that the matter had been reported to the school, who in turn had made contact with the parents of the troublemakers.
On the night of the incident, Lucia was very troubled and even on Thursday, when she spoke to the Clare Champion, she was still quite emotional. “I couldn’t sleep that night, you have different thoughts in your head about what could have happened.”

The Gardai told her that the use of fireworks by young people is very dangerous and can lead to serious injury, and she is concerned about it. “We had heard a lot of fireworks in Shannon but when we’re at home we feel a bit safer. This was the first time I experienced this face to face. It’s not professional people doing this, it’s just really young kids messing and playing with them. They weren’t looking where they were going and they were all laughing.”

The incident has left her feeling a bit less secure. ” Next time, could something land in my garden? I’ve heard that’s happened to some people and my son plays in the garden a lot. Until now I never thought I’d be afraid in my garden, now I am.”

On the positive side she felt there were less fireworks being heard around the town in the two days after the incident, perhaps as a result of it being reported.

She says she would hate to see a situation in Shannon where people become so nervous about anti social behaviour, that they are afraid to go into places like the Park if they see groups of young people there. However she says that if incidents like the one last Tuesday continue, it’s only a matter of time until there are serious injuries. “I want people to be aware. On Tuesday it was myself and Luka, the next time it could be my friends and their kids, and anything could happen. What I saw was they weren’t looking around, they weren’t worried about anyone coming. If this doesn’t stop somebody will get hurt. Nothing happened to us, but somebody will get hurt if this doesn’t stop.”

Earlier this year at a meeting of Shannon Municipal District a number of concerns were voiced about anti-social behaviour at the Park, with Councillor Pat O’Gorman saying that “gurriers” had been causing trouble for decent people there. At the time Councillor Gerry Flynn warned that such behaviour had become a problem there. “It’s not isolated, it has happened to a lot of people and the anti-social behaviour there is not acceptable.”

Owen Ryan