DISAGREEMENT over plans for a new €1.8 million youth centre in Ballynanty continued this week as City Councillor Tom Shortt slammed TD Willie O’Dea for supporting a campaign opposing the development. The Labour Councillor said it was shocking to see a local TD “making an argument to turn away a €2 million investment in the future of the youth of some of the most disadvantaged communities and unemployment blackspots in the state”.
Cllr Shortt continued: “Parents with teenagers will disagree with Deputy O’Dea that there are adequate services in the area as they find that there are very limited facilities, places to go and things to do for that particular vulnerable teenage age group.
“Parents feel let down by public representatives like Willie O’Dea, and especially Maurice Quinlivan who was born in the area, siding with an unrepresentative pressure group and the vested interests who want to stop the building of a badly needed youth centre.”
Cllr Shortt claimed that the opposition campaign is misguided and is using “alarmist and exaggerated language and statistics to whip up fear in the community about relocating these services which are already well established without incident in the area”.
He added that it was the role of public representatives “to dispel the fear being generated in the community particularly about the safety of older people” and suggested that some of the concerns expressed by those opposing the centre need to be challenged.
Cllr Shortt concluded: “It was ridiculous to suggest that a youth centre would increase anti-social behaviour in the area when all the evidence has established that this kind of facility actually reduces levels of anti-social behaviour.
“Staff of the nearby St Munchin’s Community Enterprise Centre in Kileely need to be reassured that the funding of the youth ventre is entirely seperate from their funding and comes from different sources entirely and will not affect their jobs.”
