Residents raise concerns of pre-arranged fights near playground
By Aimee Walsh
A BLADE was found sticking up from the ground near a local playground, which has been an indicator of people meeting up for pre-arranged fighting in the area.
A resident of Kingswood Heights found the blade at the playing pitches, 20 feet from the children’s playground beside Kingswood Community College.
A blade found sticking up from the ground close to the playground
There have been reports from concerned residents about organised fights in the park, with groups pre-arranging them online, according to local councillor for Tallaght Central Liam Sinclair.
“There is a lot of people congregating around the play spaces and I am being told they are not from Kingswood Heights - they are not from the neighbourhood.
“I have not had this verified, but the word is that there are people from Drimnagh and people from more western Tallaght pre-arranging fights online and meeting up in Kingswood. That has been going on in and around the area.
“In the short term a more obvious garda presence wouldn’t hurt and there is a teen space planned. That and other facilities where young people who are not children have somewhere to go would be useful.
“Obviously with the pandemic at the moment it is making it that bit tougher, I do sympathise with them I wouldn’t like to be a young person going through this.” Cllr Sinclair added.
On the Kingswood Heights Residents Association Facebook page, they have addressed the recent anti-social behaviour and encourage people that witness it to ring the Gardai straight away.
“We have had some worrying reports of anti-social behaviour in the area recently.
“The advice we have from Gardai on this is always to call 999 and report any anti-social behaviour to them. Ringing 999 will ensure the incident is recorded. We are in regular contact with community policing and have been in contact specifically about this.”
Cllr Sinclair echoed this message, saying people need to contact their local Garda station if they come across or hear about any anti-social behaviour in the area.
“I am asking people that see these acts of anti-social behaviour to contact the Gardai, The Ballymount Road that goes through Kingswood Estate is the line between Clondalkin and Tallaght, so if you are on the side of Kingswood Heights you are serviced at Clondalkin Garda Station and at the top by Tallaght Garda Station.”
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