Calls To Move Forward With New Ross Skatepark After 5 Year Wait

Activists are calling for plans to establish a skatepark in New Ross to be brought back into focus.

The New Ross Skatepark Initiative says it has been waiting more than 5 years to see some progress on the facility.

It argues the park would benefit the youth of the town and encourage visitors to come try out their skills.

Gary Murphy from the Initiative says they've been waiting long enough:

"I established the initiative back in 2021 during the pandemic.

"I've been working with local councillors for around 5 years, we have planning permission, we have the drawings done up, we know where the location is going to be.

"It's just funding at this stage that's the big problem."

Skateboarders here say we should stop linking the sport to antisocial behaviour.

There are some suggestions that a skatepark promised for Rosbercon hasn't materialised yet because of perception issues.

Wexford is currently home to double All Ireland skateboarding champion Donatus Budrys and there are calls for more facilities to open to help grow the sport here.

Gary says skateboarding is so much more than just teens hanging around in groups:

"The antisocial behaviour things is a very arcane view that might have been the case back in the day but today skateboarding is now an Olympic sport.

"It's a socially more acceptable sport and I'm using the word sport in this sense even though it's more a way of life."

Gary says New Ross could become the centre of skatepark tourism if it was to take this step now.

He says a facility like this would help the town stand out from others in the area.

"There's a lot of people who may be unhappy because money could be spent in other areas but you have to look at the bigger picture.

"You have to modernise towns and you have to keep with the rest of the country in the direction they're going in as well so hopefully we will have a skatepark sooner rather than later."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.