A SERIES of incidents of vandalism and criminal damage across Ballineen have shocked the hardworking, local volunteers and community groups who have made the village the envy of others across West Cork.
Damage was caused to the Beda (Ballineen Enniskeane Development Association) playground with a treehouse and slide kicked apart, making them unusable for visitors to the popular playground, and the areas are now closed off.
Both the Community Hall and Station House in the Beda centre were also targeted, with attempts to kick the doors in and break into the buildings.
Equipment outside the buildings, including a tractor, was also interfered with.
The attractive Riverside Biodiversity Garden was also targeted much to the disgust of the Ballineen & Enniskeane Tidy Towns who have worked so hard to make it such a success.
Bug hotels and bee hives were, shockingly, kicked over. This comes as the group just launched their biodiversity book The Heart of River Bandon Volume 2.
Tadhg Sheehan, chair of Beda said it is very disappointing that people could carry out such acts of vandalism in their village.
‘A huge amount of work is being carried out by local community groups in both Enniskeane and Ballineen and they are trying to give people fantastic facilities for both themselves and their children but unfortunately those vandalising here don’t see that,’ said Tadhg.
‘We are asking people to be more observant and report anything suspicious to the gardaí.’
Beda recently celebrated the news that they had been awarded a Clár grant of €28,000 by Cork County Council for the replacement of some elements of the children’s playground. However, they said it was very disappointing to now see that some of the existing equipment has been vandalised and made unusable for those accessing the playground.
It is understood CCTV footage was gathered, which is now in the hands of local gardaí, who are investigating the spate of criminal damage incidents in the village.
Anyone who has seen anything suspicious in either village is being urged to report any incidents to gardaí in Ballineen on 023-8847111
