Dublin community angered by fire at children's playground

Muireann Duffy

A community in Dublin city has been left angered by a fire at a local children's playground.

On Sunday evening, Dublin Fire Brigade attended the fire off Cork Street in the Liberties area of the city.

The official Dublin Fire Brigade account tweeted an image of a piece of playground equipment ablaze, confirming one fire engine from the nearby Dolphins Barn station responded to the incident and quickly extinguished the fire.

"We're asking members of the public to report any suspicious behaviour to gardaí," the tweet added.

Labour Councillor for the South West Inner City, Darragh Moriarty told Newstalk it is heartbreaking to see public amenities being mindlessly destroyed.

Unfortunately, firefighters were called to a playground fire off Cork Street earlier this evening. One fire engine from Dolphins Barn fire station responded and quickly extinguished the fire. We're asking members of the public to report any suspicious behaviour to Gardaí pic.twitter.com/G6JeUU8sLD

— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) October 9, 2022

"We've had two new parks open in the last fives years which have serviced the community, given young people something to do, and when acts like this happen they'll rightly cause anger."

"Community activists, community groups and residents have had to fight for every blade of grass, for every playground facility that has come into the Liberties in recent years.

"I think now there's a knee-jerk reaction saying 'this is why the community doesn't deserve investment in parks' and I think that's a totally wrong approach to take.

"I think the minority of people who do commit acts like this shouldn't tar the other 99 per cent who need and use the parks in the proper way," he said.

Cllr Moriarty added that Dublin City Council is now looking into the matter to assess how much damage has been done and how long it will take to reopen the facility.