Children’s playground for Tymon Park looks set to be prioritised by council by the summer’s end
By Laura Lyne
PLANS to start work on the Tymon Park playground at Tymon North are on track to begin by the end of the summer, with the project due to go to tender by the end of April.
The time-frame for works to begin on the long-awaited playground was given at the Tallaght Area Committee meeting this week, in response to questions submitted by Labour councillor Mick Duff and Fianna Fáil councillor Charlie O’Connor.
Development of a new playground for the Tallaght end of the park has been an ongoing issue for local residents and representatives, with Cllr Duff previously calling the delay a “saga”, having pushed for it to be built since 2009.
Speaking to The Echo, Cllr Duff said: “We’ve been through the hoops with this. I was annoyed about the delay, and about the fact that the playground became second place to the playspace programme being implemented around the county.
“The council did put it on the back burner. I was promised before the general election that it would be prioritised, and it seems it has been now, with the tender going out in April with construction due to begin in August.
“Seven years is far too long to be waiting for a playground. There’s an entire generation that lost out on being able to use the playground because of this.
“I’m a little bit more positive now then I was, but I am annoyed that we’re going to have another summer where we don’t have a playground. We’ve effectively lost 2016 as well.
“I regret that they didn’t get this started earlier, but it is something that I have been fully committed to since the beginning and it will remain my number one priority. I’m not going to take my eye off this.”
The previous timber playground, famed for its giant slide, was decommissioned due to health and safety concerns in 2010.
Following the tender process, the new playground is expected to be located beside the car park at the Tymon North entrance to the park.
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