Locals Left Shocked as Fire Destroys Youth Club – Shane Adlum reports on a fire that has ravaged a local youth club
Residents have been left devastated and sickened by senseless act of vandalism.
On Friday night, 2nd of July, the Ring Street youth and community club was the victim of a mindless attack as the newly refurbished building was set on fire. Luckily, the fire was brought under control by the Dublin Fire Brigade and no injuries have been reported.
Unfortunately, the damage caused by the fire was substantial and nothing could be salvaged. The newly installed kitchen was completely wrecked. The pool table, which the kids loved playing on, ruined along with the foosball and air-hockey tables. The flat screen television is now unusable and a projector, which was going to be used for movie nights in the green, completely destroyed. Absolutely everything from tables, board games and the arts and crafts equipment has been burnt.
Suzanne Corcoran from the Ring Street youth and community club told me about the journey of getting the youth club up and running and the devastation this act of malicious hooliganism has caused. She said it was set up “after years and years of our community up on Ring Street Inchicore having been left without a youth club after the one we had was sold on the community.” The club is run by 12 volunteer leaders, who also run the Mary immaculate Inchicore summer project. One of their first tasks was to find suitable premises and they did that when they took over a former charity shop last year. And that’s when the hard work started.
The shop was run down and in serious need of renovation. The floors had to be levelled, walls needed to be plastered and painted. A new kitchen and toilet were installed. The electric system was upgraded, new windows and doors were put in place and wood flooring was laid. Brand new mechanical shutters had been installed just two months ago. Countless hours of hard work were put in by local volunteers and generous tradesman who had given up their time and services for free. And all this work was made even harder as it had to be done adhering to strict covid safety measures. It is absolutely devastating to see the pictures of the building now, the smoke blackened walls, the charred pool table, the scorched floorboards.
It wasn’t just the kids who were looking forward to spending some time at the club, the seniors were excited too. It really was a club for the whole community, or as Suzanne puts it “this community was for kids from 6 to 106”. It’s been a particularly difficult year for some seniors with many feeling isolated and lonely, the club was the perfect way to get them back out socialising again.
It has been an incredibly tough few days for everyone involved with the Ring Street youth and community club. The fire came as such a shock, a senseless act of vandalism that has such a negative effect on the whole community. But it isn’t going to stop the hard-working volunteers in Ring Street who don’t give up easily.
A fundraising hike will take place next month in Glendalough for the Ring Street youth and community club. If you would like to make a donation a go fund me page has been set up and you can find the link below.
