Kilkenny councillor 'horrified' by dumping at city skate park

Chairperson of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, Cllr Maria Dollard has called for the Skate Park in Kilkenny City to be monitored by CCTV, stating she's 'horrified' by the littering in the area.

Under new legislation, local authorities are now permitted to use CCTV to monitor litter and dumping blackspots following a recent announcement by Minister Ossian Smyth.

Kilkenny County Council as well as councils across the country may also use drones, bodycams and covert cameras to tackle commercial fly tipping and illegal landfills. 

Cllr Dollard told the Kilkenny People she believes the local skate park should be prioritised as a location to receive CCTV cameras after seeing the site 'first hand' at a litter pick last weekend.

"This technology is badly needed as littering has become a persistent scourge in many parts of County Kilkenny," the local Green Party councillor commented.

Cllr Dollard said she was 'appalled' and 'horrified' to see litter all over the skate park including very dangerous broken shards of glass.

"Our children and people of all ages who skate here deserve better. There could be a serious injury to a young child as much of the small glass pieces were clear and almost invisible to the eye. We picked as much up as possible with litter pickers and by hand but simply couldn't pick it all up," she added.

"I am asking for the Skate Park to be prioritised on the basis of the risk to children and others who use the Skate Park. The litter in the Skate Park is not coming from the Skaters who take great pride in their space but others who use the park to party and leave their rubbish all over the ground despite plenty of bins being available to them. CCTV should help to catch the culprits or stop this behaviour," Ms Dollard concluded.