Push for park warden service to address vandalism in south Dublin city
Proper surveillance and enforcement is needed to address the prevalence of anti-social behaviour and vandalism in South Dublin city parks.
That’s according to Independent Councillor Vincent Jackson who is calling for the implementation of a park warden service within the South Central Area. He said the current situation of simply ringing gardai is not sufficient to address the increasing number of vandalism incidents.
With often huge costs to repair damaged property and amenities at Dublin City Council parks, Cllr Jackson believes the provision of this service would be “revenue neutral” in the long-term. Cllr Jackson added that while there used to be wardens in the area, they were “phased out” but having "physical presence of people on the ground” would go a long way toward addressing illegal activity.
“They might think they're saving money from not having personnel on the ground, but I say if you add it up, it’s not the case,” he said. Using The Play Park in Ballyfermot as an example, Cllr Jackson said the skate park facility has benefited greatly from day-to-day management by the council.
By having staff who open and lock the park every day, he said this extra precaution has helped ensure its continued safety. “We spend probably €15,000 to €20,000 a year supporting a group to lock it, open it, and clean it every day of the week,” he said.
“That is very good value for money in my estimation. If it was vandalised you could have €30,000 worth of damage in one night and the council would go in and replace that,” the independent councillor said.
While it shouldn’t be a situation of assuming parks that aren’t monitored will be targeted by vandals , Cllr Jackson said “parks and quality open spaces need to be maintained.” He suggested the council implement a pilot project for a park warden service where they can compare the incidents of vandalism to previous years to gauge its overall cost versus potential savings.
The Ballyfermot-Drimnagh rep explained that a big problem with the current situation regarding the lack of park surveillance is that when people call the gardai they are often told by dispatch that it’s the responsibility of the council. “City council staff members can only go over and tell you not to be doing something, but they don’t have arresting powers,” he said.
“They need the guards in order to implement the law. So the line of demarcations are a bit of a grey area. There’s only a certain amount they can do.”
Cllr Jackson also commented on the need to address the source of anti-social behaviour and vandalism across Dublin communities. “I’d often say to the kids that the vandalism of parks is only depraving your own brother, sister, niece, or nephew of things,” he said.
By coming up with alternative ways to address vandalism, such as through a park warden pilot scheme, Cllr Jackson said it should be possible to find a cost-effective solution. He stressed that communities could benefit from “outside of the box” thinking from the council.
“There’s five or six dog wardens, eight or line little wardens, but we could have 40 public domain wardens that would increase the capacity across the board,” he said. "It's not about catching people, it's about trying to let people know we live in a capital city and it requires its citizens to play their part in keeping places open.”
Cllr Jackson commended the council’s parks department for the “excellent work” they have done to quickly address recent vandalism incidents and fast-track repair works , but he believes new measures could work better than the current situation. Cllr Jackson’s motion calling for the introduction of a park warden service is set to go before the next meeting of the South Central Area Committee.
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