Call for warden for Con Smith Park
Problems with late night anti-social behaviour, littering and one particular act of vandalism have lead a local political representative to ask the local authority to consider assigning a warden to Con Smith Park in Cavan Town.
Cllr Madeleine Argue believes action must be taken to address a number of problems: “I want to highlight the need for some form of oversight. Obviously you can't put up cameras in the play park because of GDPR issues, but a warden could curb some of the issues.”
Cllr Argue stresses that any difficulties do not diminish the beauty of the facility: “It's a great amenity. It was donated to the people by Con Smith and has been developed into a real community asset by the council, a lot of work went into it. There is an Alzheimer's walk, a beautiful bandstand, the war memorial, sports equipment of the older people and a lovely walk through it.”
Making it a family park is the reason for the Fine Gael representative's call: “There have been incidents where older boys have been acting the maggot. They are in the minority. I know the Gardaí include it in their regular patrols, I just hope that this includes doing so at night.”
Littering
She continued: “There has been significant problems with littering. There is a little stream."
Earlier this month an incident of vandalism in Con Smith Park provoked a strong public reaction online. The Park was the focus of a major clean up by members of Cavan Tidy Towns prior to the incident.
“I can't understand the mentality of people who would engage in such wanton acts of vandalism. The park was used by over 1,000 people a week before lockdown, and we will be hoping to return to those numbers this summer,” Cllr Argue said.
In a comment on the matter the local authority said: “This park has represented an invaluable public resource and it is a source of regret that a small minority of park users do not afford this resource, local residents, and their fellow park users the respect they deserve.”
Cavan County Council pointed out that investigation of anti-social behaviour is a policing matter and the council will continue to liaise with An Garda Síochána to resolve this issue.
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