Finding space for high fliers

Not all teenagers are into GAA, soccer or rugby. Ireland is finally responding to the demand for skateparks, writes Róisín Ingle

Anyone disgruntled by the recent announcement of public funding for skateparks should pay a visit to the adventure playground in Loughrea, Co Galway, and talk to the people skating there. The large ramp is located by the picturesque lough to one side of the state-of-the-art playground. Young girls and boys and a couple of curious swans look on as local teenagers turn tricks on their boards wearing trademark baggy jeans and beanie hats. Opened a few months ago, the ramp has been welcomed by the local community, especially the many local teenagers who favour skating over more conventional sports.

From Bali to Brazil, the US to the UK, skateparks have long been a feature of recreational areas, while Ireland has been slower to recognise the demand for these facilities. Here we are more used to children being chased away from civic spaces and carparks where signs read "skateboarders will be prosecuted". The provision of €2 million by the Department of the Environment for 21 skateboard parks over the next two years should go some way to satisfying skaters, but given the slow progress over the years some involved in the sport remain sceptical.

"In this country catering for teenagers has been about sticking up a couple of posts in a green field, which is no use to young people who are not into soccer, rugby or GAA," says Clive Rowen who owns the Skate City shop in Temple Bar, Dublin. "It's been a long time coming and I'd like to think things will change now, but Irish skaters have been promised facilities before and it hasn't come off."

Galway's County Council and City Council are two of the few local authorities around the country who have had the foresight to integrate areas for rollerbladers, skateboarders and BMX bike riders into their parks policy, despite challenges such as local opposition and insurance. Ann Mallaghan has been working with the county council for the past three years to come up with an alternative to the national play policy, which only caters for children up to the age of 12.

"We decided that it was important to provide places for young people to gather. The site in Loughrea is a place for the whole family, young and old, where the skating can be enjoyed not only by the participants but as a spectator sport," she says.

The skating area was particularly welcomed by a local supermarket owner whose carpark was being used by the skating community in Loughrea.

While there has been plenty of local support, Mallaghan is aware that there is a fear that skateparks will mean a rise in anti-social behaviour.

"There is certain psychology of assuming the worst about young people. It's quite unfair," she says. "Play is about free association and voluntary codes of behaviour. Skateparks offer an opportunity for young people to make up their own rules. So much of children's time is supervised and managed by adults. It's about striking the balance, providing a place for them to go which is safe and pleasant and visible at the same time."

Plans for a new skating park in Tuam, Co Galway are already well advanced and local skateboard enthusiast David Welby (17) is helping to design the facility after years building ramps from timber in his back garden. On their first visit to Loughrea, he and his friends Stephen Hession (17) and Josh Clarke (17) were impressed and spent the afternoon whizzing around the ramp on their boards. All three are knowledgeable about the sport - "it's a billion-dollar industry in the States," says Stephen - and they say it's a "healthy obsession" that parents should not fear.

"It's not dangerous," says Josh, who describes the antics on MTV's Jackass as "funny but stupid, good in small doses". "It just looks dangerous to people who can't do it. How many legs are broken from football matches? But I have never had a decent injury from skating in all the time I've been doing it."

"The buzz you get from learning a new trick is incredible," enthuses David. "It takes loads of self-discipline, you need to practise by yourself and when you improve it's really satisfying. Everybody wants to attack the youths these days but we don't all want to go and hang around corners and drink. If you neglect a growing subculture, that's unhealthy - we need an outlet to express ourselves and skateboarding gives us that."

"Skaters are usually those who want to express themselves differently. It's for free spirits," says Stephen. "We do get slagged by the jocks but when people see what we can do they usually stop."

Josh explains that skateboarding is still something of an underground pursuit in this country but that "in America it's massive. The New York Times had a report which showed more kids there were taking up skateboarding than baseball. I don't think it will threaten the GAA just yet, but it's definitely growing."

In Dublin, where parks in Bushy Park and in Lucan are planned, the owner of skate shop G1 on O'Connell Street says interest in skating has been on the rise since May. Graham Masterson has been skating for 20 years and says it's about time the Government took the need for facilities seriously. "There doesn't seem to be plans for a public skate park in the city centre, the way there are in places like London," he says. "People have their tennis courts and their football fields, and with thousands of skaters around the country skate parks should be just as common."

The four-year-old ramp in the Millennium Park in Galway City has also been a success, even if it's marred by ugly graffiti. Stephen Walsh, parks superintendent of the City Council which was awarded €100,000 in the recent raft of funding, says the design of the skate parks will be crucial. "In Galway we favour modular designs so that if the needs change or it just doesn't work the facility can be altered or moved. I'd be concerned that in a bid to out-do each other the councils around the country will create these huge concrete structures that will be white elephants in the future," he says.

Such concerns aside, for skaters such as part-time firefighter Grant Masterson from Gorey, Co Wexford, the news of funding is the culmination of a seven-year campaign. "I've been rollerblading around the town since I was a child," says the 26-year-old. "When I was 18 I went to a local TD and asked about getting funding. I was looking at these places on the TV, I knew there were facilities in England and I didn't understand why we couldn't have the same here. A couple of years ago we made a presentation to the local authority. We did market research and a feasibility study and while the response was very positive the insurance was always the problem."

With the announcement of Government funding, the insurance issue has been largely solved, and now Masterson says the only remaining obstacle is society's attitude to skaters. "People look at the kids and see hoodies and baggy trousers, ripped jeans and rucksacks," he says. "They make assumptions based on that, maybe. They worry about the noise or people hanging around. I don't know if people realise how good for tourism this is going to be. We will be able to hold international competitions, we can invite pro-skaters to the country, and that's all going to boost the local economy."

A mainly male sport, skateboarding is expected to become more popular with girls as the number of skate parks grows. "In Gorey we will definitely be encouraging girls to take part," he says. Masterson believes funding should be more in the €10 million range and should continue to be awarded annually. "Every large town in Ireland should have a park," he says. "There are plans for skateboarding to be made an Olympic sport so there's no reason why in a few years Ireland shouldn't have a representative on the world skating stage."