Park domes a danger to children

I am deeply concerned by a report in your paper on Friday, July 4, concerning the redeveloped Sky Garden in Fitzgerald Park.

The highly polished stainless steel hemispheres used liberally in the scheme are beautiful, but wholly inappropriate to a site where children have free access. They have no place in a public park.

It seems, according to a spokesperson for the city parks department, that they “didn’t anticipate the level of attraction the domes would provide for children”.

It is, of course, their job to anticipate that bright shiny reflective domes would be attractive to youngsters. Stainless steel is a very hard material. And this material when highly polished allows for little or no grip. Little people can be very unsteady on their feet. And if they slip and fall, banging heads on hard steel domes resulting in injuries could be very serious.

What’s most worrying is the solution proposed by the city council as quoted in your newspaper: “We’ve decided to take the pre-emptive decision to move the domes in an effort to prevent an accident.” And now it seems that plan to relocate up to 10 domes to the nearby Gallery Garden play area where they will be positioned safely as “play features on a bark mulch surface”.

Please, will someone with sense and access talk to the parks department or the Cork City manager.

These stainless steel domes, which, due to our climate will often be wet, are completely unsuitable as play things or features on which to stand or sit. But now it seems not only are the council planning to retain them in the scheme, they plan to endorse them as children’s playthings.

Someone, most likely a child, will be injured or worse.

Diarmuid Gavin

Kilmacanogue

Wicklow