Empty Belmayne playground without equipment labelled 'a travesty' by councillors
Dublin councillors labelled the continued inaction on Belmayne’s playground area, which has been without equipment for years, as “a travesty.”
Speaking at the Dublin City Council (DCC) North Central Area Committee on Monday, Sinn Féin councillor Mícheál MacDonncha said he was “not happy” with the lack of communication and action on the park to date.
The playground area, which is not owned by DCC, was cleared of its equipment several years ago due to health and safety concerns, but the reinstatement of the facility has been pushed back repeatedly.
“It’s gone on and on and on,” local Fianna Fáil councillor Daryl Barron told the Irish Independent.
“It’s a bit like a soap opera in the sense that, delays ordering equipment, delays tendering. There’s a lot of this red tape, pure crap to be honest, thrown at you.”
He said DCC had an agreement with the management company to finance and install new equipment and take the area in charge, but the delays meant residents were “losing faith” in the council.
News in 90 Seconds - 10 December 2025
At the meeting, Fergus O’Carroll, DCC Senior Executive Parks Superintendent, assured councillors that the assigned contractor would be on site “at the end of Q1 or the beginning of Q2” next year. The new equipment, he said, has been ordered.
Mr O’Carroll said he couldn’t offer a more specific date because the weather has a “major influence” on work schedules.
"Freezing weather conditions don’t allow for the glue to be used,” he said, “so it’s a bit of a moving feast over the winter months.”
Mr MacDonncha said he didn’t understand how, if the works are weather dependent, it would take another three months for shovels to get in the ground.
"I think we need a thorough review of how this has been handled, because it’s not just that it’s a small space,” he said.
"It was also something that we had hoped could be a small gain at an early stage as a sign of what can be done in the bigger plan that we have for Belmayne and Clongriffin. So, it doesn’t augur well when this has dragged on so long.”
Mr Barron agreed with the call for an investigation into the timeline of events, and said it should have been dealt with this year rather than next.
"We haven’t been very clear to the community. This is something that has to be done in early 2026,” he said.
“We cannot afford to see this moving into Q2 of 2026. It’ll be very, very poor that we get to that point that the summer of 2026 before we actually see a playground here will be a travesty.”
Social Democrats councillor Paddy Monahan said: "It breaks my heart that because of various different agencies involved, various different public state-run agencies and private agencies, a postage stamp of a playground still hasn’t been filled in.”
“This is what happens when we allow private entities to take over the running of what should be for the public good. It’s a playground for toddlers and it’s kind of embarrassing at this stage,” he said.