14 park rangers in place across three depots

Requests have been made for more park rangers to service the Lucan and Adamstown areas following a rise in anti-social behaviour.

Griffeen Park, Tandy’s Lane Park and Airlie Park have been singled out as spaces that need more ranger presence.

14 park rangers are currently in place across three depots in the region – six are assigned to the Corkagh depot, four to Deansrath and four to Tymon.

The four rangers who work out of the Deansrath depot cover Griffeen, Tandy’s Lane and Airlie.

Councillor Caroline Brady listed damage done to a football pitch as an example of recent anti-social activity affecting these parks.

Cllr Brady said: “The football clubs have come to me with serious concerns about the pitch in Airlie and the damage that was done to the pitch…

“…I know that a dedicated park ranger is not going to solve the [aftermath], I suppose, but I really feel that given the issues we’ve experienced in Lucan that we definitely need to have somebody on the ground more often than just routine checks.”

Park rangers work five days over seven with hours matching the opening hours of the parks.

The rangers carry out daily patrols in the regional parks and mobile patrols from time to time and as required in other parks that are assigned to them in their areas.

Lucan has a population of 57,550 and around 10,000 reside in Adamstown, with 30,000 planned to reside in the developing suburb when complete.

Councillor Alan Hayes noted that the risk of anti-social behaviour is affecting the implementation of services, referencing a refusal to place a drinking water fountain in Glenaulin Park due to such activity.

“If the provision of public services are curtailed because of anti-social behaviour, for me, that only points to the need for more presence,” Cllr Hayes noted.