Councillor brands playgrounds an ‘unmitigated disaster’

The City Council has been criticised over “unacceptable” delays in refurbishing the children’s playground at Toft Park in Salthill.

The playground has been fenced off since the end of September, and work is not schedule to be completed until the end of February.

Cllr Ollie Crowe (FF) told a local authority meeting that playgrounds in the city are an “unmitigated disaster”, with Salthill and Bohermore closed down for months.

“It’s unacceptable. Children should be able to use playgrounds. I thought Bohermore was forgotten about until I visited Salthill. We are trying to promote a healthy city, but there doesn’t seem to be any huge urgency about it (reopening the playground). I want a date for completion,” said Cllr Crowe.

Cllr Colette Connolly (Ind) said the city’s playgrounds are in a dismal state. She said she had previously been told that bark flooring for the playgrounds was adequate, and this was questioned at the time in terms of access for people with disabilities.

“Now we’re told they’re not fit for purpose. What we lack in here is giving people timelines. We might put a schedule together for [remedial works at] all playgrounds and prioritise them,” she said.

Cllr Donald Lyons (Ind) said the playground in Salthill had been out of action for four months, and it had been a widely-used facility.

Frank Fahy (FG) said he had encountered human excrement in playgrounds and asked how often they are inspected.

He said that if they are not inspected on a daily basis, a situation might arise like in Dublin where a child picks up a used syringe.

Declan McDonnell (Ind) said that Mervue United had offered to monitor CCTV at the playground in Mervue, but the offer was not taken up.

Director of Services for Recreation and Amenity, Tom Connell, said the city’s playground are all well used, and he believes Galway is well catered for.

He said the works in Salthill were taking longer than expected, and he wanted to have it back up and running as quickly as possible.

He said pressure had been put on the contractor to “speed up delivery”. There was an extensive programme for work at the city’s 23 playgrounds, and he said he would let councillors know the timescale.

Parks Superintendent Stephen Walsh said it was decided to change the surfacing at the Toft Park playground – there was stone and concrete under the base of the equipment which was constantly coming up.

He said the work involves a very significant upgrade – a decision was made to change the surface and paths; equipment had to be ordered and concrete had to be allowed two weeks to cure.

He said he was “not particularly happy” that signage had not been erected to tell people why the playground was closed.

Mr Walsh said the surface at the Bohermore playground had degraded over time due to the Irish climate.

He explained that staff from the Environment Department visit playgrounds daily and maintain a written record – if something is deemed unsafe, the playground is closed. Independent audits are also carried out at each site, and there were never any issues raised that warranted concern.

Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said vandalism at playgrounds was a “relatively small” problem, but some equipment had been badly damaged and surfaces burned.

“People might think that they’re having their fun, but it takes the playground out of commission,” he said.