Weeks later, popular playground remains closed

One of the most popular city playgrounds has been closed for over a month, with work still waiting to begin following a health and safety issue.

The playground, which is located at Toft Park on Salthill Promenade, was closed without any warning to residents and regular users.

There is a considerable number of young families residing in the area, with many regularly using the playground on a daily basis, who now had to travel by car to the likes of Cappagh Park to avail of similar facilities.

Local area councillor, Niall McNelis has branded the delay in sorting this issue as “ridiculous” and is of the belief that initially no health and safety officer had been assigned to the job and that is the reason for the prolonged delay.

Speaking to the Galway City Tribune, he said: “I was given an undertaking three weeks ago that this job would have been started by now and would be well finished by the Halloween break. I personally have concerns that it won’t be ready by then because we had an instance in Cappagh Park where the playground was closed for nearly six months at one stage.”

The current facility uses a bark surface which was deemed unsafe for children who may be using the area and required urgent replacement.

The playground has previously been described as one of the best playground facilities in the city with plenty of amenities such as fencing, seating and free parking.

The planned new surface is aimed to provide a much safer playing environment will involve digging-up the entire playground and fully resurfacing the area, which could take a considerable amount of time.

According to the City Council, funding for the new surface will be taken from a previously allocated upgrade fund and work is expected to commence within the next two weeks because of a wait for materials to arrive.

Cllr McNelis stated: “If we’re going to be encouraging kids to get outside and play we need to make sure we can provide the facilities for that as well.”

A local mother-of-three spoke of her disappointed that the playground has been out of use for so long. “We would go there weekly and the playground is sorely missed, we have no idea when it will reopen,” she said.