Residents of a housing estate on the north side of the city are “at their wits end” dealing with youths illegally driving scrambler motorbikes in the area, according to a Cork City Councillor.
Fianna Fáil representative Tim Brosnan highlighted the issue ahead of tonight’s council meeting in City Hall.
“There is a sports field in Banduff, to the rear of Barnavara Crescent, and on dry days young lads go down on scrambler bikes and they drive all over the field,” he said.
“The noise from the bikes creates havoc for some of the residents of Barnavara and, frankly, the Gardai can’t seem to stop it because by the time the scramblers arrive, and the complaints go through to the Gardai, by the time the Gardai arrive the scramblers are gone.”
Cllr Brosnan claims he has raised this issue before with city council executives, and was told that there was a fence around the field to prevent such a situation taking place.
“There’s no fence around it. There might have been a fence around it 20 years ago, but that is since well gone. And these young fellas are causing a nightmare. And when they leave that scene they then travel along Banduff Road and start driving all over other fields in the area as well. They have no licences for these things, there’s no health and safety, no insurance, and all they’re doing is causing a massive nuisance.”
He said one possible solution might be to designate an area for young people to go and use motorbikes if that’s what they want to do.
“If people are into scrambling, it’s much better than having them into crime. So there should be something available for them if they want to drive these bikes, some space where they can go,” he said.
“It’s a sport, and sport should be encouraged, but at the moment it is a nuisance to the residents in Barnavara and that’s not acceptable.”
He hit out at council officials for “doing absolutely nothing” about the situation.
“It’s driving the residents crazy altogether. And it’s the same old excuse – we haven’t the money and it’s not in the budget. But sure there are cheese and wine parties every day down in the city hall. Every art exhibition you go to is a cheese and wine party. The whole bloody country is having a party. There’s money, but it’s just not being given to things that involve ordinary, everyday people.”
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