How Halloween hero TD saved the day

AN eagle-eyed TD has become the hero of the hour after he recovered a mound of tyres that had been stolen from a local charity and stockpiled for a Halloween bonfire.

Deputy Finian McGrath (Ind) spotted the colourfully painted tyres hidden in a laneway near Grace Park Road in Drumcondra.

Deputy McGrath, who knew they were part of Childvision’s equine therapy pony run, arranged to have the tyres picked up by Dublin City council and returned to the hard-working  charity.

“I was delighted to help organise the return of 55 stolen tyres, which were taken from the grounds of Childvision for a bonfire,” Deputy McGrath said.

“I want to commend Dublin City Council for their assistance in this matter.

“The tyres, which were all colourfully painted, formed part of a very successful equine therapy run in the grounds of Childvision. It’s disgraceful that a charity and the children they look after could be robbed in this fashion.

“At the moment council  crews are working around the clock retrieving stashed bonfire material in an operation that will cost more than half a million euro before Halloween is over, when you include damage done to our green areas.

“The crews often need Garda protection when retrieving materials and I know that the public are particularly grateful to local authority staff, gardai and Dublin Fire Brigade at this time of year.”

The Dublin Bay North TD added: “This local authority money would be better spent on children’s playgrounds and maintenance of our public housing stock.”

Brian Allen, the CEO of Childvision, said they were delighted to get the tyres back, although he confirmed that there has also been significant damage done to their front gates as well as some fire damage on the grounds.

“We’ve never really had that much trouble here before but this was a blow,” he said. “We use the tyres to mark out the trail so that the kids can go around on the horses. There was a bit of fire damage inside and the motors on the front gate have to be repaired, which will all cost money that would otherwise have gone towards the kids.”

However, he added that as a token of their appreciation he would welcome Deputy McGrath back if he wanted to come down to Childvision and have a go on one of the horses, “as long as he has his own insurance”.