Local reps call for serious action to 'catch the culprits' of Kilmore Park fire
Dublin councillors have called for firm action to address the devastating damage caused to newly installed Kilmore playground in a suspected arson attack.
North Central Area councillors met today and discussed the fire that took place last night at a playground in Oscar Traynor Park, close to the Kilmore West Recreation Centre in Coolock. With a built-in slide destroyed by unknown vandals, this attack was particularly upsetting for councillors who had used their discretionary funding to get the playground installed only last June.
“It was heart-breaking to see work that councillors have been pushing to get done for years actually damaged. Watching it unfold last night was absolutely heart-breaking and to think I was going past it earlier in the day and saw kids in it and enjoying it,” Councillor Donna Cooney stated.
Cllr Cooney recalled the recent vandalism of toilets at St Anne’s Park as particularly worrying for their area and said something needs to be done to discover why this “trend” of destroying public amenities is becoming so common across Dublin . With a need to get the heart of the issue and address it head on, she called for serious action.
“Who is doing this and why? We need to find the culprits because it can’t just be random acts of violence,” Cllr Cooney said. “It’s happening across our community and it cannot be condoned, we need to look at the wider implications so it doesn’t happen again.”
Chairperson Cllr Daryl Barron said it’s important that local councillors, regardless of political affiliations, come together to “stand up against it as community leaders.” “We can’t tolerate this type of arson within our community.”
Cllr John Lyons described the damages as an “attack on the community and our young people.” He stressed the importance of finding out who was responsible and that “there needs to be consequences.”
“It’s so mindless and they need to understand the impact of what they have done. Any interim repair job would be great to partially reopen. It could be a topic of discussion for parents to have with their kids,” he said.
Cllr Deirdre Heney called for collaboration between parents, gardai, local authority, and councillors to address the source of these types of attacks and to provide young people with the facilities they need. “We should be doing anything we can to help kids who might not be interested in mainstream sports,” she said, highlighting the impact of activities like boxing in reducing anti-social behaviour.
Independent TD Barry Heneghan has also condemned recent arson attacks across Dublin Bay North, including the Oscar Traynor Park, the burning of community benches in Howth Community Gardens, and the recent arson of the newly refurbished toilets in St Anne’s Park.
“The Coolock playground only opened in June after years of community effort. To see it burned within months alongside attacks in Howth and St Anne’s is disgraceful and completely unacceptable,” Deputy Heneghan said.
“These amenities exist because local people fought for them alongside their local reps. We cannot allow a small minority to destroy them.”
Deputy Heneghan said one urgent step needed is to fix “Ireland’s outdated CCTV and GDPR rules.” "Councils want to install cameras in areas repeatedly hit by arson and anti-social behaviour, but red tape is stopping them,” he said.
“Other EU countries do this, Ireland can too. Families, children and older residents deserve safe public spaces. We need deterrents, we need protection, and we need action”
The response from the Council’s area manager stated they will try and return the Kilmore park to working order as soon as possible with the hope it could be partially reopened before Christmas . However, some damage may require new equipment that takes four to six months to receive, which could delay things further into the new year.
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