Vol. 492 No. 3
4 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the guidelines, if any, his Department has issued to local authorities on the standards and materials used in the construction of children's playgrounds; if funding is available from his Department to upgrade playgrounds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13749/98]
Under the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1994, local authorities are empowered to provide, operate and maintain parks, open spaces and amenities, including children's playgrounds, for amenity and recreational purposes. It is a matter for local authorities in constructing and upgrading playgrounds to have regard to the various relevant standards applying to construction, equipment and materials.
The provision or upgrading of appropriate limited facilities such as open spaces, recreation facilities, amenity areas etc., may be funded from my Department's capital allocations where the work is undertaken in conjunction with the provision of new housing or the refurbishment of existing housing under the remedial works scheme.
Does the Minister acknowledge that children are in serious danger because of unsuitable surfaces in playgrounds? Many local authorities do not have the resources to replace those surfaces with more expensive but safer ones. Will the Minister issue clear guidelines to local authorities on minimum standards for playground surfaces and provide finance to make dangerous surfaces safe? Some playgrounds are surfaced with tarmacadam or stones. Children are being seriously injured. In many instances, local authorities must choose to close down such playgrounds or try to get resources to make them safe. This merits the attention of the Minister who must ensure there are national guidelines — which are issued for less important matters — and funding so that children have a safe play area, particularly during the summer.
There are international standards for outdoor play equipment and this is the responsibility of local authorities when they provide play areas. It would be irresponsible of them not to do so. I do not need to spell out to local authorities that they should observe the highest possible standards. There are international as well as national guidelines.
I have no plans to provide specific funding for playgrounds in local authority areas. However, the fact that local authorities will receive around £128 million extra in funding from 1 January 1999 will give them sufficient leeway to provide funding for playgrounds.
I will not rise to the Minister's comment about additional funding. The Minister knows that sum is an illusion rather than a reality. Whatever additional money local authorities receive, there are many calls on it. I appeal to the Minister to address this issue. I am not concerned with equipment but with play surfaces. Many of the older playground in housing estates and parks are dangerous for children. The Minister should be proactive in this matter in order to avoid serious injury to children. Will he issue national guidelines to bring the attention of local authorities to this matter and provide some modest funding over a period as a signal of his intention that children should have safe areas in which to play?
Local authorities should not continue to provide play areas if they are not safe. It is the responsibility of local authorities to provide safe play areas. In deference to the Deputy, perhaps the next time I issue a letter to local authorities I will remind them to observe the international guidelines and to provide the highest possible standards. I will not provide funding for playgrounds. It is a matter for each local authority within its own resources to provide safe play areas if they decide they are necessary.
As regards play areas on housing estates, the areas to which the Deputy referred to are older estates. Under the remedial works scheme it is possible to provide some limited funding and those cases will be judged on their merit.
Many local authorities are removing play areas throughout the country because of the difficulty in insuring children using these facilities. It is a pity that insurance can only be acquired where such facilities are supervised. This can only be done in regional rather than local play areas. Will the Minister consider a nationally co-ordinated insurance scheme for local authorities? This would perhaps provide a better deal than is available to each individual local authority.
As in many other areas, there is a major problem of insurance cost in this area. The Deputy rightly said that a number of local authorities will not continue to provide playgrounds because of insurance costs and liability claims. I would like if there was some way to avoid filling the coffers of insurance companies and if the compensation culture was not so prevalent. However, it is and we must face that.
A number of public bodies are owned by insurance companies.
I will discuss the matter with them to see if they can come up with a national scheme which may reduce the cost to individual local authorities. I will get back to the Deputy when I get a response on that.
