Memorial bench burned and bins damaged as Tipperary council highlights lakeside vandalism
As hot weather continues across Tipperary and crowds flock to lakeside amenities along Lough Derg, council officials have reported a series of incidents of anti-social behaviour.
Tipperary County Council manage several lakeside amenity areas, including in Terryglass, Garrykennedy, and Dromineer.
At the July meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District, district administrator Rosemary Joyce said that there had been a slew of problems at the council run sites and encouraged people to be more aware.
In one incident, a disposable barbecue was lit on a memorial bench, scorching the seat.
“We have done so much work on the amenities in the area, and it’s brilliant to see the lifeguards in place in Dromineer. However, we’re having difficulties in a number of areas because of the behaviour of a small minority of individuals.
“In Garrykennedy, somebody put a lit disposable barbeque into the bin, and set fire to one of our big belly bins. Out in Castlelough, people are lighting fires on the grass area, and the grass is ruined, there’s burnt patches.”
“This kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable. We want people to enjoy the amenities, but they must respect the facilities that are provided,” Ms Joyce said.
Agreeing with Ms Joyce, Labour councillor Louise Morgan Walsh said that residents of Dromineer were finding it hard with the anti-social behaviour and urged parents to talk to their children.
Cllr Morgan Walsh also said that anti-social behaviour was deterring boaters from using the harbour.
“Boaters are a big issue as well, because we should be welcoming them into the harbour, but they’re actually being deterred not to go in there at the moment,” she said.
“Youngsters were jumping off the jetty there, and they were scraping at the mud and smearing it all over the sides of the boats.
“I’d just ask parents to please, have a chat with their children before they go down to Dromineer, just to respect the areas and other users. It’s extremely important because we want them to keep coming back,” Cllr Morgan Walsh said.
Councillors also discussed whether additional facilities could help reduce some of the unsafe behaviour.
Independent councillor Joe Hannigan asked if the council could install a floating pontoon for people to jump off, rather than them jumping into the water in the boat mooring areas.
“I think there’s a need for a jetty out where the swimming area is to allow people to dive in at that point, with a ladder attached that they can get out of the water,” he said.
“They’re moving over to where the boats are, which is far from ideal,” Cllr Hannigan added.
Ms Joyce said they would look into providing something like this for people to enjoy, but added that it wasn’t as simple as just doing it.
“It’s not a question of just providing the facility, you have to properly risk assess something, and it’s not necessarily a question of the money either, it has to be the right thing to do,” she said.
“If you’re providing a facility like that, then how are you managing it. But we’ll take the feedback and we’ll look into it,” Ms Joyce said.