Plan to develop all-weather sports pitch in Town Park
WITH the often-abused children’s playground in Dingle Town Park now decommissioned, a local committee made up of representatives of a broad spread of local sports clubs and some Grey’s Lane residents hopes to develop an all-weather sports pitch on the site.
Committee member Cllr Seamus Cosaí Mac Gearailt ( pictured) told The Kerryman this week that it is hoped to build a 60m X 40m astro-turf pitch, which would take up about a third of the area of the town park. The development would also include changing rooms and toilets. Plans for the proposed sports pitch are currently being drawn up by an architect and, when complete, these will be submitted to Kerry County Council. Cllr Mac Gearailt said the council wants to see the town park being used by more people and is very supportive of the pitch plan. However, the development will require planning permission, which will allow people an opportunity to submit observations or objections to the plan.
Cllr Mac Gearailt said the development is expected to cost in the region of €250,000, and this would have to be raised from sports grants and local fundraising. Once operational, a small charge on users would make the pitch self-financing.
West Kerry currently has no aall-weather sports pitch which, as Cllr Mac Gearailt pointed out, “leaves people with no place to kick a ball in bad weather”. Last year he contacted local schools and sports clubs, including Rugbaí Chorca Dhuibhne, Cumann Caide Ban Chorca Dhuibhne, Dingle Bay Rovers soccer club. All of them were strongly in favour of the proposed pitch development. Representatives-R of these clubs are now included in the committee behind the town park pitch proposal.
Dingle Town Park has been plagued by vandalism, vodka-drinking teenagers and general anti-social behaviour for decades. This has largely been blamed on the secluded nature of the town park, which is under-used, poorly lit and has only one entrance. Cllr Mac Gearailt believes that an all-weather sports pitch would bring a lot of genuine users into the town park and that it would help transform the area. Because of the park’s problems, many parents were unhappy to allow their children use the playground, and they successfully campaigned for an alternative play area, which opened last year near Cooleen. Once the new playground opened, the play area in the town park became largely redundant and it was decommissioned recently.