Calls for investigation into 'embarrassing' Belmayne playground delays
The delays of the renovation of a playground in Belmayne is “embarrassing” and requires an investigation into what has gone wrong.
That’s according to Councillors at today’s North Central Area Committee meeting, where Sinn Fein Cllr Micheal MacDonncha sought concrete figures on when works would commence at the former playground in the middle of Belmayne Square. He said he attempted to gain this information at the last meeting, but “it wasn’t properly dealt with.”
While Cllr MacDonncha has since tried to organise an information meeting to gain updates on the playground he said this fell apart “due to communication issues.” He argued that’s “not happy” with the way the council has evaded this issue and he raised it at the start of the meeting to ensure it wasn’t forgotten about once again.
Fergus O’Carroll from the Parks Department assured Councillors that “the equipment has been ordered” and it’s hoped the contractor will be on-site by the end of quarter 1 or beginning of Q2 2026. However, he admitted at this time of the year scheduling contractors is a “moving feast” as they must contend with poor weather conditions.
“Freezing weather conditions don’t allow the glues to be used,” Mr O’Carroll explained. While Cllr MacDonncha agreed weather conditions must be taken into account, he said it’s hard to understand why this would delay things for potentially the next three months.
“This is not something that’s dropped out of the sky. I think we need a review on how this has been handled,” he said. “This was something we hoped could be a small gain and a sign of what can be done in the bigger plans for Belmayne and Clongriffin. It doesn’t augur well that this is dragged on so long.”
Social Democrats Cllr Paddy Monahan explained that this is a matter that’s been “going back years” and delays are the predictable outcome of “private entities taking over what should be for the public good.” “It breaks my heart,” he revealed.
He said he recalls discussing this issue in the local community prior to his being elected in 2024 and being assured the playground would be restored “extremely soon.” “This is a playground for toddlers and it’s embarrassing at this stage.”
Chairperson and Fianna Fail Cllr Daryl Barron concurred with his fellow councillors and said this is a matter that should have already been resolved in 2025 and to see it go into next year is deeply disappointing. He said that there have been major communication issues and the council “hasn’t been clear with the community.”
“This is something that needs to be done early in 2026, we cannot afford to see this moving in Q2, it will be very poor if we get to that point,” he said. “It’ll be summer 2026 before we see a playground and that will be a travesty.”
Cllr Barron echoed his colleagues' statements and called for an investigation to see how this matter has been handled “from start to finish.” He requested a timeline of events and said “people are losing faith in the council because of the lack of push from ourselves.”
This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme