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The new play equipment installed at Fermoy Town Park. Mayor Olive Corcoran says she’s disappointed with it. Photo: Ellen Lynch

Mayor of Fermoy Olive Corcoran says she's disappointed with the new playground at the town park. €68,000 was spent on new equipment for it recently. The Mayor, who also chairs the town park sub committee of the town council and campaigned for the new playground equipment, feels they could have got more for their money.

"I'm very disappointed. We've ended up with less equipment than we had. I feel that, for the amount of money we spent we should have got more."

The Mayor is not the only one disappointed. A mother of two children, aged 7 and 10 who says she regularly takes them to the playground, this week told The Avondhu that they had looked forward to it reopening with new play equipment but felt let down when they saw what the old equipment was replaced with.

"The slide is very small, too small now for their age," she said. The woman, who asked not to be named, said the central play structure was much smaller generally than the previous one.

Another person, whose children regularly use the playground, agreed. It was his view that the capacity has been reduced from eight to ten children at a time using it, to three or four. He could see it leading to queues in the summertime.

Some of the equipment wasn't replaced and the framework for some of the swings isn't new either, though new chains and seats were fitted.

A special soft safety surface was installed and is likely to have accounted for a substantial amount of the overall cost. The Mayor wasn't happy with that either though, pointing out that some drainage should have been installed before it was fitted as, following recent rain, pools of water accumulated on it. "It leaves a lot to be desired," she said.

She also believes the public procurement process is a problem. Under it, she says, they are obliged to accept the lowest tender to be seen to be delivering value for money.

The €68,000 came from the town council's development fund. Pointing out that the total fund was €100,000 she said she's going to look for the rest of it to be spent on extra play equipment to boost the amenity value.

"I think it could be improved on," she stressed. She plans to put a motion before the town council meeting next Tuesday night, calling for the money to be spent on additional items.

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