Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

I also extend my sympathies on the passing of Sr. Stan. She always backed the underdog and she advocated for those in homelessness and those newly arriving in Ireland. Those are two very important things she did in her life. Sr. Stan always put those on the margins first. She loved people who may not have seen much love during their life. She has left a huge legacy, something that we as a society need to build on.

On another issue, as the evenings get darker, public parks are closing at 5 p.m. or 5.30 p.m. In effect, this means that all of the parks are inaccessible to working families. Anybody arriving home at 5 p.m. or 5.30 p.m. cannot use the parks for six months of the year. There should be a programme for this. I have raised the issue with Dublin City Council but the council has done absolutely nothing about it. If people are cycling on the greenway towards Tallaght in the evening, the lights will be activated, so there will be lighting as people travel along. This should be done in public parks. The council is happy enough to light up a park for a particular event, but that is where it ends. There is a lot of antisocial behaviour in the dark evenings, and there are places that people feel unsafe walking around. Dublin City Council leaves the parks open, so they are accessible to people and people take a chance but that is not something they should have to do. The parks should be lit up. Ringsend Park was lit up last week for a particular event and it was a fantastic facility. It allowed people to walk and use the park late into the evening. All parks should be lit up and welcoming all year around, not just for the summer months.