Dublin City Council has formally launched the introduction of BoxUp to some of its local parks, enabling the public to use sports equipment for free in two parks across the City Council area.
BoxUp is an outdoor locker system with six different items of sports and leisure equipment from basketballs, footballs and dumbells to speedminton and pickleball equipment for up to three hours for free, through a dedicated app.
“You just need to download the free BoxUp app on your smartphone, and create your account using photo ID. There are no credit card or bank details required,” explained Carmel O’Callaghan, the Active Cities Officer for Dublin City.
“Just select on the app the equipment you want to use, and the locker will open. When you are finished your activity, simply place the equipment back in the locker and upload a picture to the app confirming you’ve returned it”.
“I am delighted to support this great initiative which will be of great benefit to the local community and will support health & wellness for Dubliners,” added Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste.
“This is a brilliant collaborative project from Active Cities, the Dublin City, Sports and Wellbeing Partnership, our Parks teams and Sport Ireland,” added Rob hartnett, Chair of the Partnership.
“I can be the spek to bring friends together and get active in our public parks, without having to have planned everything in advance. Hopefully it will continue to be as popular as it has in the early weeks”
Over the past year, eight Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs), through the Active Cities project, have been working collaboratively to create more access to opportunities for participation in sport and physical activity across the five largest cities in Ireland – Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
The project aims to expand the opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to lead healthier lifestyles through increased access to free sport and leisure equipment.
“We know that for some, accessing equipment can be a real barrier to their participation, and with so many facilities, parks and open spaces across our cities, it’s important we try to meet the needs of individuals to enable them to be active,” said Mary Corry, National Active Cities Officer. “It’s exciting to see the initial uptake, with almost 400 users and over 1,200 uses of equipment across both parks in Dublin City to date.”
The BoxUp location in Eamonn Ceannt Park in Kimmage has overtaken Marley Park in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown as the most popular in Ireland and is second only to Geneva on a European Scale.
“Sport Ireland is delighted to see the launch of BoxUp in Dublin City today,” concluded Louise Burke, Participation Director.
“The Active Cities project is funded through Dormant Accounts Funding, which aims to engage communities across the country by supporting those who are educationally, socially, or economically disadvantaged or those who have a disability to become more active. It is fantastic to see Dublin City Sports & Wellbeing Partnership working with Dublin City Council Parks and other key partners to ensure everyone in the city has an opportunity to be active in their own community.”
