The facilities had only been installed recently and local people in Clontarf had campaigned for years for public toilets to be installed at the park.<\/p>\n
As well as serving as a public park, St Anne\u2019s is also home to playing pitches for a number of sports clubs based in Clontarf and Raheny.<\/p>\n
Local football club Clontarf FC said members were \u201cdevastated\u201d on Sunday morning when they arrived to the damage done to the facilities.<\/p>\n
“This mindless vandalism beggars belief and anyone who knows anything about the idiots who did this please contact [garda\u00ed].<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can assure all our club members, parents, guardians and supporters that the club will ensure this setback doesn’t stop us working with [Dublin City Council Clontarf] to get our permanent facilities in Woodside built asap.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t let these idiots win,\u201d the club said, adding it has a responsibility to ensure the boys and girls who play football in Clontarf \u201chave the facilities they deserve\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Clontarf Residents\u2019 Association asked for anyone with information regarding the incident to contact the local garda station.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are shocked and disappointed to see the new toilets in St Anne\u2019s destroyed overnight,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone with information should contact Clontarf Garda station on 01-6664800. Thank you to Dublin Fire Brigade for their swift response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dublin Fire Brigade confirmed it responded to reports of a fire in the area: “Firefighters from Kilbarrack responded to reports of a fire at the new public toilets in St Anne\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire was extinguished shortly after arrival and further damage was prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Independent TD for Dublin Bay North Barry Heneghan, who is from Clontarf, said the facilities had been delivered following \u201crelentless\u201d campaigning, and the damage represents \u201can attack\u201d on the local community.<\/p>\n
He confirmed that the facilities \u201ccan be salvaged\u201d despite the damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply disappointed, angered, and saddened by the thoughtless vandalism in St. Anne\u2019s Park last night,\u201d Mr Heneghan said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe new toilet facilities, the result of relentless community campaigning, were badly needed to support young people in sport and the families who come to cheer them on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis vandalism is an attack on our community and shows complete disrespect for public spaces, local volunteers, and the huge efforts made to improve facilities for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite this setback, we remain determined to enhance public spaces that help our children play, learn, and thrive in a safe and welcoming environment. Having spoken to the installers of the toilet they say it can be salvaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge anyone with information to contact An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na so those responsible can be held accountable. Our community deserves better.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig thanks to DFB [Dublin Fire Brigade] for their speedy response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to queries on social media, Mr Heneghan said there is no CCTV installed at the public toilets, but work is ongoing with nearby homeowners \u201cto hopefully find something”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The facilities had only been installed recently and local people in Clontarf had campaigned for years for public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,8335,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-147769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-darragh-nolan","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115446141814458967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}