‘Nightly’ gatherings at Tudenham car park a problem

Boy racers are engaging in anti-social behaviour at one of the most popular lakeside amenities in the Mullingar area on a “nightly basis”, a local councillor has said.

Speaking at last Monday’s meeting of the Joint Policing Committee, the cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, Cllr Ken Glynn, said the car park at Tudenham on the shores of Lough Ennell has been scene of “ongoing activities”.

“It is the scene of many unauthorised gatherings of cars on a nightly basis. Westmeath County Council carried out some works there recently to try to prevent this behaviour, but I don’t think the works were satisfactory and, if anything, I think they have made the situation worse.

“Are the gardaí and Westmeath County Council looking at this on a regular basis? I do think that this is something that needs to be reviewed quickly because it is dangerous for locals and dangerous for motorists.

“I think it is important, particularly on an issue like this that the local authority and gardaí are consistently engaged. If a programme of work has been done in an area and it hasn’t solved a problem, then we need to go back,” Cllr Glynn said.

The Fianna Fáil councillor asked that the council and local gardaí work together to “ensure that a more permanent solution is found and to rid the area of these unwanted scenarios”.

Cllr Glynn also paid tribute to Sergeant Ambrose Duggan and his staff for their work in trying to combat the anti-social behaviour along the gantry and on Railway Row in Clonmore.

He said that there has been a lot of antisocial behaviour at that location and that it is “frightening residents”.

Responding to Cllr Glynn, Superintendent Alan Murray said that the Traffic Corps have been deployed in the Tudenham area and that the Drugs Unit have also been used and have made a number of detections.