Aine O'Boyle
LOCALS have expressed their concerns that public parks in Dublin 12 are being damaged as maintenance works are carried out in inclement weather conditions.
Ciaran Byrne, a Walkinstown local, said that a number of parks in the area, in particular Pearse Park, have been deteriorating for over a year now.
"In the last several months the parks in the Dublin 12 area have been deteriorating," he said. "The parks used to look great, even in winter but now are getting destroyed by oversized machinery used in soaking conditions
"Crumlin village has, I'm glad to say been fixed up eventually, but I don't think this will recover quite so easily.
"These guys are coming into the park, in all kinds of weather, using machinery that is way too big.
“There’s huge chunks gone out of parts of the park, and all the verges are beaten up with large tractor tyres,” he added, referring to Pearse Park.
“It’s really just gone to bits with all the rain.”
Mr Byrne said it was unclear to him whether Dublin City Council were carrying out the maintenance works on the park of if it had been outsourced to a private company.
However, in answer to queries, Dublin City Council confirmed to Southside People that they had been carrying out maintenance on the sites.
According to Dublin City Council: “The pitches in both Walkinstown and Willie Pearse Parks were improved during January/February using a machine that aids aeration and improves drainage.
“The weather we have had over the winter, in particular February, has meant the ground is soft and any 'damage' done is superficial and will knit back together as soon as the weather improves.”
However, according to Mr Byrne, who is a gardener himself, large machinery such as JCBs are being brought in for small-scale tasks like planting a tree.
“They’re just bringing trucks and machinery in there, reversing, going back in and driving around,” he claimed.
Mr Byrne said he had previously contacted Dublin City Council to highlight issue and had captured images of the affected areas.
“They’ve scalped all the pitches that were beautiful in Pearse Park where they’re cutting it too tight,” Mr Byrne added.
Mr Byrne acknowledged that he was lucky in many ways to have such parks so close to his doorstep.
However, hae added that as a local he thought the works were “needless, as was the destruction of the verges and all.”
