A new playground is being proposed for Fermoy Town Park, the town park strategy committee having identified it as the main project they’d like to see developed.

“There is a playground there but parts of it need to be replaced and we think it’s timely to upgrade it altogether,” chairperson of the committee, Olive Corcoran said this week. She plans to raise the matter at the next monthly meeting of Fermoy Town Council. She understands that funding for a new playground may be available from a particular fund the council has and she intends seeking support from members to access that funding. It’s understood tacit support has already been forthcoming from mayor Michael Hanley and town clerk Pauline Moriarty.

Cllr Corcoran also plans to seek approval to have a sign erected at the entrance gates to the park advising dog owners that they must keep their pets on a lead at all times while in the park. They don’t want to ban dogs from the park, she stressed, but to have owners keep them on leads to better control them. Dog fouling is a big problem in the park she revealed, in spite of the fact that a ‘pooper scooper’ stand was erected there last summer with the bags to allow owners properly dispose of such waste.

The committee would also like to see plaques erected to show which trees in the park were planted by presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese and by Adair School to mark its centenery.

The secretary of the committee, Ciaran McGann presented a draft strategy for the park to town council members on Tuesday night.