Members of the Raheny and Clontarf communities in Dublin are “very upset” after toilets in St Anne’s Park were set on fire just a week after they were installed, a local TD has said.
Independent TD Barry Heneghan, who had been working with local councillors to get the toilets installed for some time, described the situation as “an attack on our community”.
The eco toilets, which were unveiled a week ago, were set alight on Saturday night.
“I have to really just give kudos to the fire brigade. They were out so fast, but the damage was done,” Mr Heneghan said.
READ MORE
If the toilets had proved successful, the plan was for Dublin City Council to install similar toilets in other parks.
“I was really upset because it was going to be something that was going to be rolled out across Dublin city, if it had been successful,” Mr Heneghan said.
The Dublin Bay North TD has been in touch with the company who installed the toilets and said, based on the photos they’ve seen, “they think that it can be salvaged” but an assessment of the damage needs to be carried out this week.
“The most disappointing thing is, I was down and walking around my constituency and a young girl came up to me and she was just so upset.”
He said the toilets were primarily installed for children who play sports in the park, as they had to get “changed in bushes” because there were no toilet facilities in the park before last week.
“It’s really, really not good enough. I’m just so upset for the people.”
Mr Heneghan said local representatives will now look into ways to prevent any future damage to the toilets such as the installation of CCTV cameras or a large cage that could surround the facilities and be locked at night.
He encouraged anyone with information about who started the fire to contact An Garda Síochána.
