BY BRIAN MOORE
DUNMANWAY badly needs a new car park, not just for residents, but for the safety of pedestrians as well, Cllr Deirdre Kelly (FF) told a recent meeting of Cork County County Council’s western committee.
Cllr Kelly said that land, that has recently been de-zoned as per the new county development plan and located just off Castle Street in the busy town should now be developed as a carpark.
‘There isn’t a day that goes by that there isn’t a car being damaged on Castle Street,’ Cllr Kelly said.
‘This is a residential area but residents have nowhere to park their cars and they are forced to park on the footpath.’
Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) told the meeting that this has been a problem in Castle Street for many years and now with the de-zoning of the land, known locally as ‘Tiernan’s Field’, this would be a perfect opportunity to provide a much-needed car park.
‘This is a very confined area,’ Cllr Carroll said. ‘Not only for cars but for pedestrians as well who can’t go up and down that street any more with freedom. People are entitled to walk on the footpath and apart from this there is no way a wheelchair could go up or down the street.’
Cllr Declan Hurley (Ind) also called for the land to be used for a carpark and said that he was aware that the divisional manager was ‘amiable’ to the development of a carpark off Castle Street.
‘This is a very old chestnut and it is very timely that Cllr Kelly has brought this motion before the Council,’ Cllr Hurley said. ‘Not alone do we need additional off-street parking, but parking on Castle Street needs to be regulated as well.’
Senior executive officer MacDara Ó Hicí told the meeting that the divisional manager was aware of the need to provide extra parking in Dunmanway.
‘We are looking at providing extra parking for, not just Castle Street, but for everyone in Dunmanway,’ Mr Ó Hicí said.
‘This is one of the options we are looking at. However, funding is an issue because a lot of national funding schemes do not provide funding for parking.’
