Blackguards Strike At Donabate Allotments
Monday, 26 July 2010 12:10 After a long wait by many allotment holders to move to new locations allocated by the council, the new site has been broken into. The new allotments were opened in March of this year after much planning by the local authority to move the existing allotments. The Council has now provided the tenants with a newer, state of the art project, where Swords allotment holder, Tony Lane was one of the unfortunates whose allotment was broken into, Tony told the County Leader, “ I arrived as usual on the Monday morning at 9.30 to find out the news of the break-in. The Gardai had been and gone at that stage and we were left baffled. There are an average of 50 allotments with sheds and it seems the thieves used bolt cutters to cut the locks of the sheds. On average, the majority of us have a spade, a shovel, rakes, hoes and pick axes which cost around €25 apiece. My initials are carved into all of mine, so they would be recognisable if they were put on sale anywhere. The culprits used our wheelbarrows to bring the stolen equipment to the internal gate which was unlocked. The council are in the process of providing all tenants with a pin number for the gate and, unfortunately, this made the escape route easier for them.” The local authority has been working to improve facilities for existing tenants for a number of years and also to make new allotments available to locals who have expressed an interest in getting started. They have been very helpful by assisting the tenants in moving to the new allotments with the help of JCB’s, trailers and manpower. Tony continued, “It’s 15 years since we were robbed before and it’s very disheartening to see this happening. We had a meeting with the council and were told we would be getting secure weather proof sheds. However, because of lack of funding, we never got them and the demo models that were put in place were sold to anybody who could afford them and they were roughly €1000 each. My shed is wooden and cost me €500. It’s a great community and I spend at least three full days a week here. The allotments bring so much to people’s lives and there is even a site where visually impaired people can work. My whole allotment is organic, even my small green house is made of recycled windows. I had seen a few strangers on site a few weeks ago and they made a smart comment to me, however I kept my head down and just reported the incident to the Gardai, but haven’t heard anything back. I also called them to find out what is happening with this case and was left on hold for 45 minutes. The allotments mean so much to all who are involved and, hopefully we can continue to enjoy this passion without any more of these horrible incidents.” |
