ICE RINK DEBATE HITS THE AIRWAVES
THE debate over Dundalk Ice rink made the airwaves when talk show stalwart Joe Duffy took calls from local listeners last week.
A number of callers from the Dundalk area aired their concerns about the location of the ice ink in Market Square.
One of the callers, Briege Duffy said: ‘I live in Dundalk and for the past four years we’ve had an ice rink in the centre of our town. When I was driving through the town the other day I just thought why is that there because it takes over our whole Market Square.’
She added ‘It is a good idea, but it’s just where it is.’
Another local caller, Nora Malone, added : ‘ To me you are taking up the heart of the centre of Dundalk with something that is not great looking. It’s a marquee, and it’s not pretty. It’s not very Christmassy either.’
The call for the rink to be moved elsewhere was key to the objections made.
But Market square retailer, Colm Morgan from Johnny Morgan’s Fresh Fish, who also contacted Liveline, the location has been beneficial for town centre trade.
‘I’m a trader right beside the ice rink and personally I think it’s great because it takes a few people around the town, and it’s only there for seven weeks. Parents drop their kids into it, and then they go into the shops so I don’t see any negatives to it at all.’
Martin McElligott, Town Centre Manager at Dundalk BIDS, also called in to the show to defend the decision to bring the ice rink back for the fifth year.
Speaking to the Argus about the debate, he said he accepted that local people were ‘ very passionate about their town centre, and I think that is to be applauded.’
But he said the reason behind hosting events such a ‘Dundalk On Ice’ was to bring people back into the centre, and the evidence from the first few years proved that it had worked.
He said that the research from last year had sown that the rink brought in an estimated 50,000 visitors.
‘ The reality is that we would not be backing this if we didn’t think it helps the town centre,’ said Martin.
‘ The feedback we have been getting from retailers is that it does work. Families are coming in, spending time in coffee shops and restaurants, where they spending between €7 and €10 per head.’
He said that an estimate of the benefits was around €1 million being brought into the local economy over the seven weeks.
‘ The nature of town centres are changing, and is now more centred around events being held that attract visitors in, and it does work.’
He also responded to calls for the location of the ice-rink to change, saying that holding it out of town would ‘defeat the purpose’ of tying to attract more to the centre.
He added that other locations had been looked at but were not viable.