A playground in Dublin has been seriously damaged by fire in the latest of several arson attacks at the same location.
The playground at Sean Moore Park beside Sandymount Strand has been set alight “six or seven times in the last two years”, according to a local TD.
Fine Gael Dublin Bay South TD James Geoghegan said the playground, which cost more than €250,000 to build, has been “destroyed” in the latest incident.
“This is a playground that has been attacked six or seven times over the last two years, but this is now the worst damage by a country mile,” the former mayor of Dublin said.
A video of the scene of the arson attack shows flames engulfing the playground’s central slide structure.
[ Dublin children’s playground ‘targeted by arsonists’, say gardaíOpens in new window ]
Photographs of the playground on Monday morning revealed the extent of the damage, which was described by Mr Geoghegan as “absolutely shocking”.
The slide was destroyed by the flames, leaving behind a charred metal shell.
“These vandals have shown total disregard to their community. They have given the two fingers. We need to show that the community are united,” Mr Geoghegan said.
Fire damage to the playground and equipment at the Sean Moore Park Playground, Ringsend, Dublin 4. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw 
Part of the playground extensively damaged in the fire. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Gardaí responded to the scene following a report “of an incident of criminal damage by fire” on Sunday at about 9.40pm.
Eyewitness footage shows a fire burning at a playground in Dublin’s Sean Moore Park.
“Fire services extinguished the fire and made the area safe. No injuries were reported at the time,” a Garda statement said.
Investigations are ongoing.
Mr Geoghegan called for CCTV cameras to be installed in the playground to discourage individuals from carrying out similar incidents.
“We have to secure the playground in a much more serious way and rebuild as quickly as possible,” he added.
Green Party councillors Hazel Chu and Claire Byrne were due to bring an emergency motion to Dublin City Council’s southeast area committee on Monday afternoon, calling on the installation of higher railings and CCTV cameras around the playground.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Cllr Chu said these measures were needed alongside “a fit-for-purpose strategy to prevent ongoing vandalism and arson” at the location.
The motion also outlined a request for “assurances that the damage will be repaired quickly and that the playground will not be closed as a prevention method”.
“It is a park I bring my child to,” she said, adding that repeated incidents of vandalism at the Sandymount park necessitated an increase in the presence of community gardaí.
Labour leader and Dublin Bay South TD Ivana Bacik said she had been in contact with many local residents “who share my anger and frustration about the awful damage that has been done to the playground through an arson attack last night”.
She said she will work with local Labour councillor Dermot Lacey to “follow up directly with council officials today in seeking assurances that action will be taken to ensure that this does not happen again and if necessary to install an increased security presence, as has been done elsewhere”.
The Dublin 4 fire comes days after a separate criminal damage incident at Castlegate playground in Adamstown. Investigations into the fire, which occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd at about 8pm, are ongoing, gardaí said.