Laois playground to be refurbished due to ‘dangerous’ equipment
Works will begin at the playground in Durrow next week
Refurbishment works are due to begin at a Laois playground next week which will cause intermittent closures.
Laois County Council confirmed that refurbishments will be carried out at Durrow Playground, also known as Darú na nÓg, on Tuesday, November 17. These works will require the intermittent closure of the playground while the work is ongoing.
This comes following the request by Cllr Ollie Clooney for the play equipment to be upgraded at the playground.
Speaking at the November meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick MD, the Durrow Councillor said that no improvements have been made to the playground since it opened 30 years ago.
He argued that the play equipment has become “dangerous” due to the lack of upgrades and as a result less people are using it.
“The whole thing needs to be upgraded, even the gate going in is falling down,” Cllr Clooney told the Council.
He welcomed the upcoming refurbishment works, however he said that it will not address all the issues at the playground.
“I welcome the money that’s coming, but unfortunately it’s not going to do the whole thing.”
Cllr John King supported Cllr Clooney and estimated that to complete all the necessary works in Durrow it would cost in the region of €100,000.
He said there was a similar situation with the playground in Rathdowney and those works ended up costing around that amount, noting that Durrow is also in need of “a serious revamp.”
Similar issues have been raised in recent months regarding playgrounds in Stradbally and Timahoe.
Cllr Vivienne Phelan called for safety audits to be carried out on all playgrounds in the county after she was alerted to frightening incidents involving young children at the playgrounds in Stradbally and Timahoe over the summer.
This week, Laois County Council passed its €140 million budget for 2027. Within the budget for next year, €486,600 has been allocated for playgrounds which is slightly up from the 2026 allocation of €477,000.
This figure will go towards maintenance and upgrades as well as insurance costs and staff.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme