Residents ‘very worried’ after garden wall in Dublin home is damaged by fire as a result of anti-social behaviour
A back garden wall in a Tallaght home was “completely damaged” after a fire was started on an unused green space next to it.
Calling attention to the “ongoing issue” of fires and fly-tipping at Millbrook lawns, Fianna Fáil councillor Adam Smyth called for the space to be converted into a playground or football field.
"There’s been two fires in the same spot over the last year – one late summer last year and one two to three weeks ago,” said Cllr Smyth who raised a motion on the issue at a South Dublin County Council (SDCC) meeting.
“A couple of people have been on to me about illegal dumping in the area, and now someone has set a fire there which has completely damaged someone’s wall.
“The green space is surrounded by dumping grounds – it’s a hidden area that you can’t really see from any of the roads. Solving the illegal dumping is very important, but it’s more important to do something with the green space.”
The councillor said there was a concern around anti-social behaviour like fires among residents in the area.
“There is a real concern among the locals – it’s very worrying for this particular household that it happened right at the back of their garden wall,” he said.
"People are worried because it’s at the back of loads of houses and alongside trees, it’s not really visible from any roads. If we replace it with a playground or football field, it’d bring more people to the green space and give it visual security.”
The councillor noted that there was an increase in reports of anti-social behaviour in the wider Tallaght area.
At an earlier meeting, the Tallaght Transport Forum reported that four buses travelling through parts of Tallaght were damaged within the span of two hours due to anti-social behaviour like stone throwing.
"Fires can be a problem closer to Halloween, it’s not as much of a problem on its own but anti-social behaviour has definitely gone up,” said Cllr Smyth.
"Not too far from the green space, we had issues in one of the parks with fires being lit and scramblers. This spot is quite close to other problem areas.
“It’s more important to prevent it from happening, that’s what the families want. We’re coming to the summer months, kids are going to be out and about – we need to prevent this from happening again.”
An SDCC manager said they will consider using CCTV cameras in the area only if the problem persists.
“Increased patrols of the litter warden will be scheduled for this area, and they will continue to investigate it. Where evidence is uncovered, enforcement action is initiated by SDCC,” they said.
"In adherence to the Local Government Management Agency’s (LGMA) codes of practice for the use of CCTV for the prevention, detection and prosecution of litter and waste offences, the use of CCTV should be considered a last resort.”