Athletics club furious about slow track progress by council
By Brendan Grehan
LUCAN HARRIERS have been left adrift after the builder contracted to build their track went into administration. They are calling on South Dublin County Council to take action.
In April, The Echo broke the news that Crawfords, the contractors for the track, had gone into administration. On Tuesday night, June 5, members of the club gathered at the site and called on SDCC to finish laying the track.
A spokeswoman for Lucan Harriers told The Echo: “There has been ongoing communications with South Dublin County Council (the owners of the site) but there has been little progress and the club is now facing ongoing delays and difficulties which are having a serious impact on the club.
"The work done by Crawfords means that all ground and drainage works are complete. Unfortunately due to EU tender rules, it looks like the Council will have to go back out to tender for the completion of the track works which is a time-consuming process.”
She added: “We are asking South Dublin County Council to arrange for tarmac to be applied to the track so the track will be made safe and the Club can re-use it again.
"The tarmac work will be required in any case and currently the Council are paying for 24/7 security on the track, so this would have a double benefit of removing the need for 24/7 security and the associated costs to the Council and also giving the club back a track that could be used in the short term.”
She said that the delays are having financial implications for the club and is also impacting on the wider community.
She said: “Traditionally local schools would have held their sports days on the track and the club was always happy to support this. However, some of the local schools have had to move their sports day to Le Chéile in Leixlip so Lucan schools sports days are happening in County Kildare! Lucan has grown so much in the past 30 years and will continue to grow with the ongoing development in Adamstown and Clonburris.
“We need all the sporting facilities we can get for the community to encourage physical activity, particularly for our young people.”
Frustrating
Eoin Fitzgerald, a Juvenile Coach with Lucan Harriers told The Echo that he found the whole situation frustrating.
He said, “As one of the Juvenile Coaches at Lucan Harriers I find it all very frustrating. We are just about managing at the moment renting the hockey pitch from Weston on Tuesdays as well as using the park on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“What happens come October and the dark evenings? Where are we meant to coach the kids for the Cross Country season? There are no lights in the park.
“Meanwhile the Council are forking out for 24×7 security at the track. If the tender process is going to take up to 6 months there will be a large security cost.
“Why can’t the Council use this money to lay tarmac on the track now which is the next stage of the project anyway? This means we have somewhere to train for the winter and removes the need for security at the track.”
In a response to The Echo, South Dublin County Council said: “We applied for funding to DTTS under the 2015 Sports Capital Programme for an athletics track at Esker Park, Newcastle Road, Lucan in association with Lucan Harriers Club.
“The main construction works for the athletics track commenced on site on the 19th of February 2018. On the 18th of April 2018 an administrator was appointed to Crawford Contracts Group Ltd, the main contractor for the works. On failure of the main contractor to attend on site South Dublin County Council acted to secure the site and prevent unauthorised access.
“South Dublin County Council have since terminated the contract with Crawfords’ Contract Group (in administration) in line with the provisions of the works contract. It is now intended to re-tender for the completion of the track; these works will be re-tendered in line with public procurement requirements.
“The Council remain in contact with Lucan Harriers during this process.”
