COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE (2)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor S. Crowe

Cathaoirleach's Business.

This Committee calls on the Manager in view of ongoing complaints regarding incursions by bikes and quads on football pitches in and around St Marks GAA club and bearing in mind  the added time and financial costs involved in repairing the damage caused by these illegal incursions, can he agree to look at new measures, and liaise with the Garda Authorities and discuss ways of tackling and eliminating this and other similar problems in the area.

REPORT:

The illegal use of  motorbikes and quads is a problem throughout many of the parks in South Dublin.  The best way to control anti social behaviour such as this is the presence of full time local staff  who have responsibility for the maintenance of the park in question.  Other than the parks where staff report for duty, our staff only visit parks when carrying out routine maintenance or development works. The Park Rangers also patrol our parks and do provide a form of deterrent for this type of behaviour, in particular during the summer months when they are on duty up to 9.00pm and at the wekends. 

In previous meetings with officials of St. Mark's G.A.A. Club the issue of quads and motorbikes abusing the pitches in Butler McGee Park was raised and the Parks Department has now installed an anti-motorcycle gate at the main access to the Park, adjacent to their clubhouse. The Parks Department has also recently been in contact with An Garda Siochána and has requested the deployment of the new Garda Scrambler Unit throughout  the parks in West Tallaght, in an effort to deal effectively with this problem and to enforce the Park Bye Laws. It is hoped that An Garda  Siochána will have this dedicated Unit in place in the near future, when the necessary Garda training has been completed. In the meantime, staff in the Parks Department will endeavour to identify any new measures or actions that can be taken to deter this form of anti-social behaviour.