Pitch faces ruin after five months

October 2009

A SHOWPIECE all-weather pitch at Ballyneerin is being targeted by vandals who appear to be systematically destroying its facilities.

A steel basketball hoop is the latest piece of equipment to be attacked at the pitch. Thugs first bent the basketball hoop out of shape before completely snapping it from its base.

The all-weather pitch was only launched in May this year by FAI Chief Executive John Delaney and Irish football legend Packie Bonner.

‘ This is just a pure act of vandalism. We have very few sporting facilities in this town and the FAI pitch was a great addition to the town and then this happens,’ said Cllr. Gail Dunne.

‘I know a lot of people are seething about it,’ says Cllr. Dunne.

At the start of the year Wicklow Town Council could no longer retain the services of a caretaker because of Government embargos on recruitment within the public sector.

Now parents are complaining that the playpark is strewn with litter, broken glass and dog dirt. Cllr Dunne believes that the Department of Finance needs now to be informed about just how vital the services of a caretaker would prove in the upkeep the playpark.