A WATERFORD city and county councillor has called for CCTV and public lighting in the city's People's Park.
Cllr Jason Murphy of FF said a recent alleged assault in the park has highlighted the need for the council to "re-focus" on the amenity.
On Wednesday evening last, gardai received a report of an alleged assault on a mother and her nine-year-old daughter following an alternation with a group of young people at the children's playground.
It's been reported that the nine-year-old had a large clump of hair pulled out following a verbal altercation with a group of up to 10 youths. Her mother, who stepped in to help her daughter, was then allegedly pushed to the ground and "repeatedly punched and face scraped" by the group.
Gardai are investigating the incident which occurred some time after 5pm Wednesday.
On this morning's Deise Today, Cllr Jason Murphy said he couldn't say he was shocked but he was "disappointed" that such a thing had taken place, a "very distressing" incident for the mother and her young daughter.
He said he has long being called for a "re-focus and a re-emphasis" by the council on the park - and had been very disappointed with the reaction from the council executive to date.
"There are real issues around the park and we need to put real resources into it," he told Damien Tiernan. "I've been speaking about providing lighting there previously and CCTV should also be looked at as it's a public area."
Cllr Murphy said he uses the park 3-4 times weekly himself for walking.
He said it was "full" of young people and "99.9% of them" were extremely well behaved and a credit to their parents.
He added there was only one reliable witness to events like this - and that was CCTV.
He also pointed out that the council are spending over 53,000 this year on a largely virtual St. Patrick's Day festival and perhaps such money would be better spent on capital programmes like this.
You can listen back back to both Cllr Jason Murphy, and reporter Darren Skelton who has been reporting on the story for the 'Waterford News & Star' by clicking below here...
You can listen to the full Deise Today from this morning, meanwhile, by clicking the links below...
