Tipperary teenagers could get more space to play following calls to expand sports facility
A “dated” sports facility in Cashel should be expanded and upgraded to give teenagers more space to play, local councillors have said.
At the September meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, Fine Gael Councillor Declan Burgess tabled a motion asking the council to review the Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) next to the playground in Cashel.
Cllr Burgess also asked that Tipperary County Council consider applying for funding to expand the area so that more people can use it.
“The facility has been heavily used by young teens in Cashel for a long number of years. I remember playing in it when I was in school,” Cllr Burgess said.
“We have very little space in Cashel for our young teens, and that’s something we hear as elected members all the time in Cashel, and it’s something I’m really conscious about.
“I would like to see the council carry out an assessment of the area. I’d like to see a full-size MUGA installed, with updated basketball courts. Basketball in particular in that MUGA is very popular,” he added.
The facility as it currently stands is “outdated”, Cllr Burgess added.
Seconding the motion, Fianna Fáil Councillor Roger Kennedy said that it is a project that the local authority should be supporting.
Independent Councillor Liam Browne also supported the calls, but said the council should consider redeveloping the wider area rather than focusing solely on the MUGA.
“There’s a huge amount of space up there, and I think I’d even go further than what Cllr Burgess was saying and look at the whole area and to properly develop it.
“Apart from the new playground that went in a couple of years ago, the whole area is quite dated, and there’s a lot more uses that could be made of it,” Cllr Browne said.
Any works that take place on the games area should include CCTV, he added, saying that there had been incidents of anti-social behaviour there in the past.
Cllr Browne said he would “hate” to see money spent on new equipment, only for it to end up getting damaged.
“There’s huge space there, it’s not utilised to its potential, in my opinion, and I think we should sit down and come up with extra ideas for it,” Cllr Browne added.
In response, district director Damien Ginty agreed, and said that it is important to the council that the facility is maximised.
“That is a community space and it is absolutely vital that we encourage as many groups to go and use that popular facility because people do supervise people,” he said.
“It is in our interest to ensure that it is maximised and we won’t be found wanting in terms of identifying what funding streams are available.
“We’d also like to engage with the community groups in Cashel because they can also assist in those applications and in terms of ideas of what additional facilities they would like to see on the site,” Mr Ginty added.