Rocks hurled at cars at Athy town park
People's Park Athy Photo: Kildare Community Stories
The increase of anti-social behaviour at Athy’s People’s Park was a matter of discussion at the most recent Athy Municipal District meeting on Monday.
Recently incidents of people throwing rocks at cars and park equipment being damaged have been reported to the council as well as the unlawful tree felling incident that occurred in the park in late January.
Bringing it to the meeting as a motion was cllr Veralouise Behan, asking that the council considers installing CCTV cameras in the park to help with this issue.
Senior Parks and Landscape Officer, Simon Wallace, responded noting that there are currently no plans to install CCTV cameras in the park.
“There is no budget to provide it nor resources to monitor it,” he explained.
“I put this in because people have been contacting me about anti-social behaviour in People’s Park. I understand there can be no CCTV, but is there something more we can do?” said cllr Behan.
“It’s a beautiful park. There are some that just disrespect it completely.” Cllr Behan proposed the installation of signage to assist locals in the reporting of anti-social behaviour. Signs that clearly show the appropriate contact information to report these incidents.
She said: “When people see something straight away, they report it straight away.”
Cllr Mark Leigh was in support of cllr Behan’s suggestion, calling it a “low-cost” and “short-term” solution to the problem.
Caithaoirleach Aoife Breslin seconded this motion and said: “We are all very aware of what’s going on. Let’s use the park for what it’s for; it’s for walking and children playing.”
Cllr Breslin noted the gardaí’s intention to expand monitoring in the area in order to prevent this behaviour. Increased Gardaí presence in the area is expected to help with all the problems in the area, even down to littering.
Cllr Ivan Keatley supported the motion and noted the community effort in the area to keeping the park nice for its users, whether its removing ivy from the walls or picking up litter.
“They really look after the place,” he said.
