Council refuses to install public lighting in ‘no-go’ Hartstown Park

Fingal County Council has said that it will not be installing additional lighting in Hartstown Park as it does not want to encourage people to use the park when it is closed.

The council was responding to a question tabled by Socialist Party councillor John Burtchaell at last week’s local area committee meeting.

Burtchaell said that public lighting should be installed due to a spate of recent assaults in the park at night.

He says that “recent reports of an attack and attempted sexual assault on a young woman in the park,” have increased the need for additional safety measures.

This would “make this vital outlet for thousands of houses more secure for all,” he said.

Burtchaell said that some women “fear accessing the park after dark” and if the council adhered to its policy of “permeability” in parks and recreational spaces, more lighting is required.

However, the council said that public lighting is installed in open spaces when “merited” and a “professional technical team in the Department decide on whether lighting is required and the location and level of lighting necessary for people to travel safely about the county, at night and in some specific locations.”

The council said additional lighting is also considered for open spaces that the public use when access bus services.

“Apart from very defined arrangements such as all-weather floodlit pitch use or managed occasional events there is no justification or indeed significant demand for making general provision for people to use the parks during the hours of darkness,” it says.

The council said it was not its policy “to encourage people to visit our parks at night time and the park opening hours reflect this.”

It says that before it installs lighting at a space, it considers the safety of people using the space, the prevention of light pollution, the disturbance to animals, and the concerns of nearby residents’ among others among other criteria.

“Public Lighting in parks and open spaces is therefore provided on a case-by-case basis based on a professional/ technical assessment, and it is recommended that this approach continues,” it said.

Regarding Hartstown Park, the council said that “there are no proposals at present to provide additional lighting at this location.”

Former TD for the area Ruth Coppinger said the council is “penny pinching” and giving “all sorts of excuses” as to why public lighting is not needed in the park.

“We will have to campaign to shift this,” she said.

“It’s ironic, because the council held an event ‘Shine a Light  for Women’ in Millennium Park two weeks ago which acknowledged there is gender bias and safety issues for women in using the parks when darknesss falls.

“But it seems it’s only a little treat once a year for International Womens Day!” Coppinger said.