COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

QUESTION NO. 3

QUESTION: Councillor L. O'Toole

"Following the newly designed playground installed in Griffeen Park and noting the incidents that have transpired over the last number of months this Committee asks the Chief Executive to arrange a stakeholders meeting over the winter months to allow for all involved (council management/local gardai/park rangers/park users/local councillors) to review the playground situation and implement measures / improvements where and if necessary?
This would ensure that any measures or improvements that may be recommended would be addressed in advanced of spring/summer and the brighter evenings."
 
 

REPLY:

The playground upgrade has been a welcome addition to the Griffeen Valley Park facilities and is well used by people from the Lucan area and wider afield.

There has been only a minor incident of vandalism to playground equipment since the playground opened; with some minor damage to a swing seat around Hallowe’en time.

As reported at the Lucan ACM in September; following the re-opening of the playground, a number of fencing panels were pulled down and were re-erected by SDCC staff. The contractor was asked to strengthen the fence and carried out this work in late October. This prevented the panels being detachable. Since this work was carried out, one panel was damaged at Hallowe’en; which has since been re-erected and there has been no further incidents of this nature.

In addition; since before the opening of the playground, the Council has been in close communication with Lucan Gardai and have been working in tandem with them since the opening. This has resulted in a lot of active management within the area by both community Gardai and SDCC ranger staff. Both have reported that in the weeks prior to Hallowe’en, and on-going since then, there has been a noticeable reduction in the amount of unwanted activity at the playground.

SDCC will continue to work in close co-operation with local Gardai in Lucan to prevent anti-social behaviour in Griffeen Valley Park. We are continuing monitoring by the Ranger service and area foremen with support from the Gardai. This presence gives the local people some security and both are working well in tandem at the moment and the action has been effective. This appears to be sufficient for the time being but the Council are open to review and amend if and as required. The council appreciate the public support and the support of elected representatives in reporting issues as they arose.