Vandalism still an issue at Clonmel sports facility

photo courtesy of Google Maps

There are ongoing concerns over anti-social behaviour and vandalism at the new Sports Hub on the N24 in Clonmel.

A number of people have taken to social media to highlight damage being caused at the facility which is due to be officially opened on June 9th.

The hub includes a 400 metre running track, skatepark, BMX track, walking trail and playground.

The latest incident of vandalism saw a perimeter gate from the playground removed.

Bernie Goldbach is a lecturer at the adjacent TUS Campus.

“I think the gate got destroyed after-hours. So somebody would have come in – and we’ve seen some of the lads on CCTV – they have the gear you’d expect to cut open stuff. They have petrol powered angle grinders for example. So that could be a ‘performance act’ that they were asked to do because they were testing their trade for a break-in somewhere else. During the day though, when you’d see a lot of stuff happening brazenly, that’s definitely stopped.

Speaking on Tipp Today earlier Bernie was hopeful that this would continue to be the case.

“If somebody jumps the fence on the track and they destroy it with paint or mess with the surface, hopefully the major facilities – the zip-lines, the trampoline that the kids are on, the swing sets, the places that you walk in and use – hopefully they’re not destroyed.

“So the common sense community users are embracing it in a positive way and that’s keeping some of the natural tendency to misbehave tamped down to a lower level.”