Once again, management in Lough Key Forest Park have had to speak publicly about the actions of those visiting the Park, which is currently closed to the general public but only open to people within 5k of the facility.
This morning a spokesperson for the Park outlined their annoyance at the rubbish that was left in the Park over the weekend.
With the Park closed, there are currently no staff working at the facility.
They thanked local Councillor John Cummins who assisted in getting the rubbish removed on Monday morning but sadly the build up of rubbish once again took place over the bank holiday.
The following is the statement:
“On March 13th, we had to make the really hard decision to lay off all our staff due to Covid 19. They are playing their part by staying away”.
“We were delighted that on May 18th, anyone within 5kms was able to visit the park and we have continued to leave the car park barrier open so all can use for FREE”.
“This weekend some visitors to the park did NOT play their part. The volume of people that visited Lough Key could be viewed as irresponsible but the level of rubbish that was generated and even worse left behind did break our hearts and is such an act of disrespect to the beautiful park surrounds. Prior to this the Lough Key staff have gone out of their way to keep the park litter free and maintained to a high standard. There are currently no staff working at Lough Key and as the company has been closed since March 13th, there are no resources to clean this rubbish up”.
“One of the pictures attached is actually a plant Box that had plants alive and growing in it”!
“We want to give special thanks to our local councillor John Cummins, who went out of his way to assist us with clearing some of this on Bank Holiday Monday morning. We are lucky to have such an active councillor in our community”.
“Unfortunately, the level of rubbish in the park was as bad this morning (Tuesday)”.
A number of people took to social media to expressed their annoyance as follows:
“Nothing else for it but to close the barriers again”
“There should be no drinking in the park full stop with water all around disgusting behaviour”
“Absolutely disgraceful and you can bet none of the people that left the rubbish live within 5km, I guarantee they drove to the park so could easily have brought their rubbish home. There is no excuse for this”.
” Lock it up….will only get destroyed”
“Until people have respect for the place simply close it all together until restrictions are lifted some people don’t care”
“Absolutely disgraceful, what is wrong with people. We are trying to respect Covid 19 restrictions and want them to move along and allow public places to open for us to enjoy and these f…ing idiots are making it so hard”.
“Absolutely heaving out there Sunday evening not with locals either. Liter blowing around and not a care given. Garda presence required”.
(Pics via Lough Key Forest Park Facebook page)
