Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The funding has been provided by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Disgracefully, the executive has made a decision to pull the funding because Crosscare has pulled out, which I believe is a retrograde decision. The cost of it is buttons, at approximately €40,000 a year for two part-time staff who are members of the local community, but the value they give to the community is extraordinary. Children from the youngest up to the ages of 13 and 14 are supervised in the playground. Many of them are children with special needs. The playground is an area where there is a DEIS school, so it is a pocket of disadvantage in Dún Laoghaire. If it is lost, many of these children will not go to other playgrounds. In areas of disadvantage, this is a very cheap example, in terms of the cost to the public, of providing early intervention and monitoring of vulnerable young people in many cases.

11 o’clock

I am appealing to the Minister to play some role in maintaining what is a vital community facility.

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