Donegal County Council has been asked to explore CCTV monitoring for a playground in Letterkenny that has been left unfit for purpose by vandals.
The children’s play area at Glendale Drive has had its surface torn up on a number of occasions.
Despite the council replacing the surface a number of times, it remains unsafe with stones scattered all over it.
Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh raised the issue with the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District this week and asked for a management plan for the area.
He said there is a serious risk of a child getting injured or breaking a bone while playing.
He said: “The council can’t be expected to keep going with the expense of fixing the surface, but neither can it be left in a state that kids can’t play in it.”
Donegal County Council said there would “seldom be complaints received about this playground” at Glendale Drive.
Cllr Kavanagh commented that the estate has been without a residents’ association for some time.
Seconding the motion, Councillor Gerry McMonagle suggested that CCTV could be installed to identify the culprits.
Cllr McMonagle said that the issue comes back to the dissipation of hard-working and vigilant residents’ associations. He called on the council, through its tenant liaison team, to do more to engage with residents in social housing estates to ensure that the local authority’s assets are better protected.
Glendale Drive is a council owned/maintained playground on lands now owned by the council.
A spokesperson for the council said that a weekly inspection of the playground, similar to all other Council playgrounds across the county, takes place and the Community Development Division of the Council is not aware of any complaints or vandalism being reported.
Cllr McMonagle said he was surprised by the answer, as the area has been raised “a number of times through the years”.
