Sex and scramblers in broad daylight
By Maurice Garvey
A COUPLE having sex in broad daylight is just one of the unwanted scenes for residents living beside The Lawns on Le Fanu Road.
Residents on the Ballyfermot Road feel authorities have allowed the park to be taken over by layabouts and thugs in recent years.
Ongoing problems at the park include groups congregating daily to drink, drug-dealing, scramblers, stray horses, defecation, and intimidation of anyone who questions the above.
“On Saturday, a few of us were going in to watch the Liverpool match (at the Aviva Stadium), and one of the lads in the group had his willy out shaking his hips,” said a Le Fanu Road resident.
“A number of weeks ago, I saw a couple having sex in the park at 6pm, more recently two of them were boxing the head of each other. These things all happened in the daytime when our kids are around.
“None of us need to see this from our homes. When I called gardai about the couple having sex, they said they could see it on the CCTV cameras in the station.”
For the most part, the older group drinking daily keep to themselves.
However, the most sinister elements arrive courtesy of much younger lads, who drive scramblers on to the football pitches, even at times when training is taking place.
“The stuff that goes on in the park is allowed to happen because it’s Ballyfermot – nobody cares,” said Ballyfermot United U-13 football coach Philip McCormack.
“The lads we have at the club are good lads, we are trying to keep them on the straight and narrow. When a lad on a scrambler drives through the pitch during training, I ask him why is he doing this. He tells me ‘because I can’. If I ask them to stop messing behind the goals or nicking the flags, you get told to f**k off.
“We couldn’t play a home game against St Kevin’s and had to go to their place to play and win the match. There used to be a park warden. Now all we get is corpo bags for them to put their gear in.”
On Tuesday evening, The Echo had to swerve to avoid two youngsters – aged between 11-13 – racing a scrambler around the park footpath without helmets.
Football goalposts used by Ballyfermot United and Cherry Orchard FC, were dismantled last May by vandals with an Allen key.
In response to groups congregating and drinking in the park, senior gardai have said if they move them, the group will simply move to another place, and that they would have to make a “significant number of arrests.”
Garda policy is not to give chase to kids on scramblers, in case there is an accident.
“That’s not fair on the residents,” said a longstanding Le Fanu Road resident.
“I was talking to the Superintendent about this problem three years ago, but in that time things have got worse. Will the new BMX track move them on or make it worse? Nobody can give me an answer.”
