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Anti-social behaviour forces park toilets closure

Thursday, 10 June 2010

PUBLIC toilets at a multi-million euro park in Donaghmede have been closed for almost a year because of vandalism. The lavish 52-acre Father Collins Park was opened to great fanfare in May 2009, but within weeks the public toilets had to be sealed off after vandals defaced the building. A total of e20 million euro was spent redeveloping Ireland’s first sustainable park, which boasts a large lake and promenade, a stage, amphitheatre and a skate park. The facility also provides a 1.5km running track, five grass pitches, changing rooms, health stations and playgrounds. Local resident and mother-of-four, Audrey Murphy, said she first heard about the toilets being broken when her 12-year-old son phoned her from the park. “Just a few days after the park opened last year, my son rang me to ask would I collect him from the park because he couldn’t use the toilets,” Ms Murphy stated. “They were state-of-the-art toilets, wheelchair accessible, with a marble and granite structure, but after the vandals got into it the alarm kept going off and the doors wouldn’t close. The children were afraid to go into it after that.” Ms Murphy told Northside People that although Father Collins Park is “absolutely gorgeous”, it is impossible to spend more than a few hours there at a time. “If you talk to any of the parents in the playground they’re all giving out about it,” she added.  “I was there with my eight-year-old daughter the other day watching a football match and after a few minutes she was bursting to go. “It’s a pity because if it just had toilets we would love to spend the whole day in the park.” A spokesperson for Dublin City Council admitted that the public toilets at the park are “not generally open at present”. However, in a statement it said arrangements are made to open the toilets in association with the regular events and activities taking place in the park, including community art events, markets and concerts. The spokesperson said: “It should be noted that vandalism at Father Collins Park is by no means excessive relative to other parks in the city. “The park is much used and appreciated by locals, the huge majority of whom are highly respectful of it.” Brian McDowell, a Labour representative for Donaghmede, says it’s a shame that such a wonderful park has unusable toilet facilities. “It makes it very awkward, particularly for parents of young children who want to spend an afternoon in the park,” he said. Mr McDowell said a council representative told him that they were waiting for a contract to be signed to provide security measures for the public toilets in the park. “While this move is to be welcomed, it’s a pity that more money has to be spent to curb this anti-social behaviour,” he stated. “Every penny that the council spends has to be taken from some budget or other, and money spent removing graffiti and repairing broken trees means that some local group will get less funding and less trees will be planted in our community. “Vandals who have had their few minutes of fun have no idea how much it costs to repair the damage.” Meanwhile, Mr McDowell was quick to praise Dublin City Council’s good work in maintaining the park. “The council have to be applauded for keeping the park as clean as possible,” he stated.  “They have done a great job in looking to maintain the park to a high standard.” Mr McDowell has called for people who commit anti-social behaviour to be punished by having to do community work. “We need real deterrents to ensure that the people who commit these crimes are seen by the community to pay for their crimes,” he added. “Cleaning their own graffiti, cleaning the roads and laneways or helping the council repair the damage that they have done would send a message to offenders that this sort of crime will not be tolerated.”