A local councillor has re-iterated his calls for wardens to be put in place on the Waterford Greenway.
Labour Party councillor, Ger Barron, initially made the call at the January meeting of the Comeragh District of Waterford City & County Council.
The suggestion was made in the aftermath of the tragic death of Ashling Murphy, while out jogging in Tullamore, Offaly earlier that month. With multiple reports of attacks on women in recent weeks, calls have also come for a safety audit of popular routes in Waterford - in relation to both public lighting and CCTV.
Speaking to WLR, Cllr. Barron says he received a number of calls on the back of his initial suggestion - and he believes it is right to assure people of their safety.
"As custodians of the Greenway, we must be in a position to assure people of their safety. We have had only one incident that I'm aware of - but in general, for the tens of thousands of people who use the Greenway every year, we have very little in the way of acts of aggression or violence. The idea for the wardens came from when we were trying to initially develop the idea of the Greenway, and it came to alleviate the fears of some of the landowners - who had very much the wrong impression of the people who would be coming along to walk or cycle along the Greenway. The idea was floated but it went into the ground and never transpired."
Cllr. Barron felt compelled to re-visit the matter in light of recent incidents nationwide but he has stressed that the Greenway does remain a safe place 99.9% of the time. He believes that any potential role of warden could serve a dual-perspective in terms of public relations and safety assurance.
"It could serve many purposes - in terms of advice to people cycling, safety advice and as well as that they could be PR people. They can point out places of interest along the Greenway where people could visit. I have met a lot of people along the Greenway, and when I speak to them, I try to find out where they heard about it and what the idea behind them visiting Waterford is. There's a huge increase in people visiting Coumshingaun Lake, Mahon Falls, and even along the coasts since the Greenway opened. The Greenway has brought people into mid-Waterford that usually would not have come anywhere near us. There is a whole spin-off from that and the wardens could provide a little bit of comfort. It's not beyond the reach of a local authority to do this."
Tourism levels along the Greenway are gradually increasing year upon year, and with 2022 set to be the most 'normal' summer since pre-Covid, Cllr. Barron admits that with a larger volume of people to police, a bigger margin for an incident comes in tandem.
"It does of course, become more likely. Then, everyone will say 'why didn't you do this?'. I might be pre-empting something that will never happen, but the idea would maybe prevent something happening. People may just think twice. I don't see these people as being heavy-handed, or dogmatic - I see them as being ambassadors and they would have a role to promote the Greenway, a role to promote the county, to make people feel safe, and also - when this broadcast first went out, I had an awful lot of positive feedback from people saying that they would like to see this."
Waterford Council have advised Cllr. Barron that they are currently 'not in a position' to provide wardens along the Greenway, however they did make the suggestion that the role could be done on a voluntary basis by community groups. The Labour Party councillor was not a fan of that particular suggestion.
"I'd like to have a look at examples of this across the country, how they implement it and how they go about paying it - all these ideas get floated and they either disappear or stay the course. I am optimistic that there is enough support for this. I'm not terribly in favour of the community idea. The idea of having community groups doing it is very hit and miss. I'd be much more in favour of having full-time people trained on this, with good PR skills, a background in security and good empathy with people. We need people who have a grasp of how to deal with people. This is for the protection of people who feel vulnerable. We must always strive to achieve 100% safety."
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