Locals have taken the steps to clean up the River Triogue themselves amid safety concerns for the public from the lake at the People’s Park.
According to local residents, anger is growing over the ongoing failure of Laois County Council to adequately maintain the People’s Park.
Such is the state of the waters at the lake and Triogue River, volunteers are cleaning it out themselves.
However, real concern surrounds the state of the lake where high levels of silt pose a threat to safety.
Local Timahoe Road resident John Drennan said: ‘‘I would be gravely concerned by the failure to adequately drain the lake. People can die in very shallow water”.
“I have serious concerns on the current health and safety status of the lake,” he said.
“It is a death trap in waiting,” he said.
This prompted two men John Styles and Charlie O’Neill to clean up the nearby river themselves.
Local man Jimmy Finn welcomed the work by the locals.
“It really did need to be cleaned out,” he said.
“It is a great voluntary exercise that the lads are doing there,” he said.
Dumped
“You realise how badly it needed to be cleaned by the amount of things they took out. They removed weeds, old mattresses, bits of bikes. I think it’s terrible what was dumped there,” he said.
Other items removed included an old ironing board.
Mr Finn added that the efforts of the local men deserve to be supported.
SEE ALSO –7-year-old boy recovering after being knocked down by car in Portarlington
