Letterkenny Mayor seeks measures to tackle daylight drug deals, underage drinking

Drugs are being dealt in broad daylight in Letterkenny while concerns have been raised over underage drinking at public amenities across the town.

The Mayor of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District, Councillor Kevin Bradley, has made the claims in calling for security to be increased - and has warned that parents ought to be vigilant.

“It is unbelievable what is going on in this town,” Councillor Bradley told Donegal Live.

“Residents from different areas have contacted me about this. The place is covered in glass from the drinking that’s going on.

“You have parts of the town and you can see people selling away at drugs. People have said this to me regularly. This is openly happening in Letterkenny every day of the week and that’s the world we’re living in.

“This isn’t alone a Council issue. Parents have to be vigilant and know what’s going on with their children - they’re not leaving the house drunk so they have to have got the alcohol somewhere else.”

One resident in the Glencar area of the town told Donegal Live: “There is an actual drinking den in one of those parks where people are going to drink and it’s quite scary. The park is littered day in, day out, from takeaway containers, cans and bottles. The anti-social behaviour is terrible.”

Councillor Bradley has tabled a motion that will be debated by Councillors this week.

Councillor Bradley’s motion asks that ‘this Council provide more security in our parks and walkways in and around Letterkenny as underage drinking is a massive problem’. The proposal will go before Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the Letterkenny-Milford MD.

He said: “We have cameras in some parts of the town, but there isn’t enough actual security.

“We have a lot of lovely parks in Letterkenny, from the Bernard McGlinchey Town Park and the Ballymacool Town Park and then you have the parks at Glenwood, Ballyboe and Gartan Avenue.

“Parks are being used more and more since Covid, but you have elderly people walking and children playing with all sorts of broken bottles and God knows what else thrown around the place.

“Something has to be done before something big happens and there’s no point in people waiting until then to cry about it.”

In 2020, a popular slide at the Bernard McGlinchey Town Park was destroyed in a fire put down as an act of vandalism.

“They’re just jumping the gate and heading on in,” Councillor Bradley said. “You look at the fire damage and you have to ask the question why there is no security.

“The Gardai are low on resources themselves, but the Council could hire security or put on park wardens to police these kind of areas and keep them right for people.”

Last year, it was claimed that a man was handing out chocolate to children at Letterkenny Town Park. One mother alleged that a three-year-old boy was handed a chocolate bar by a man he said was in the bushes.

The incident sparked calls from Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh for park wardens to be introduced.

He said at the time: I think the solution is to get more people using it and not to frighten people away from it. The presence of a park warden, especially over the summer months when children are off school, could be all you need to stop this sort of problem.”