Playground ‘causing havoc day and night’

THE new playground at the Tim Smyth Park is “causing havoc day and night” according to residents in Lifford, who have called for the area to be enclosed by a 6ft fence in a bid to deter anti-social behaviour.

The Green Residents’ Association, representing residents of the Green Estate and also Lifford Road, say that while the playground facilities are very welcome, the area has become a target for anti-social behaviour. They describe how children have been bullied and teenagers have been caught urinating on the slides.
“Last Saturday night, over 20 teenagers were using the playground and using abusive language to the public walking past.This behaviour has been known to continue until 5.30am and has deprived the nearby residents of all ages of sleep,” stated a representative of the association.
As well as the anti-social behaviour, residents also raised concerns about parking, calling for double yellow lines to be extended and residents-only parking in Green Estate as well as more street lighting.
The residents have written to local councillors urging that the facilities be fenced off saying, “otherwise these facilities will be vandalised”.
“This playground should be closed during the hours of darkness thus ensuring the elimination of anti-social behaviour,” the residents stated.
According to town clerk Eddie Power, every effort is being made to monitor the situation and maintain the facilities and Ennis Town Council have been liaising with the gardaí. He added that part of the overall plan for the park is to install CCTV cameras.
Niall O’Keeffe of Ennis Town Council added that the CCTV cameras are on track to be in place within the next four to six weeks and that gardaí have been informed about the complaints and are monitoring the area.
The matter is set to be raised at the next meeting of Ennis Town Council by Councillor Johnny Flynn who will call for a management plan for the playground.
Meanwhile, Councillor Tommy Brennan has urged the new government to grant funding to allow for the full redevelopment of Tim Smyth Park to go ahead.
Speaking at a recent meeting of Ennis East Electoral Area, he said, “The plug was pulled on the full scheme by the last government and I would ask the new government to consider allowing the full scheme to go ahead.”
Ennis Town Council had originally planned to build new dressing rooms as well as installing new playground areas as part of overall plans for the area.
Town manager Ger Dollard informed the recent meeting of councillors that the decision not to go ahead with the planned full scheme was not a government decision, but as a result of EU/IMF financial controls affecting local authorities.
Councillor Brennan also suggested that if the full scheme does not get funding, that a tarmacadamed area could be used to develop a basketball court. He turned to Fine Gael Councillor Johnny Flynn and commented the new government could be asked for the money saying, “maybe your crowd will send down the funding”.
Also at the meeting, Councillor Flynn suggested that any existing playground equipment being removed from Tim Smyth Park as a result of the upgrading works be checked for possible re-use in the Ennis East area.
“We have experienced large housing growth with young families without play areas such as Cappahard, Roslevan, Doora and so on,” he stated.
He described the new playground in Tim Smyth Park as a “fantastic facility”. “It’s great to see the investment being made and with the three CCTV cameras hopefully that will deter any unruly behaviour,” he said.
Councillor Pat Daly seconded this, saying “it’s fantastic to see so many children using it”.
Eamon O’Dea, senior executive engineer for the Ennis Electoral Area informed the councillors, “Ennis Town Council requested a playground safety advisor to examine the existing playground equipment at Tim Smyth Park to advise as to items that would be suitable for reuse. Ennis Town Council will get the contractor to remove these four or five items to ETC yard for use at another location,” he said.