Council plans to close public right of way.
CORK County Council is to ‘cul de sac’ a public road in Allihies and remove the public right of way, in order to deal with an open sinkhole that has been there for almost six years.
Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind) sought an update at last week’s meeting of the West Cork Municipal District on what plans are in place to deal with the open sinkhole on the road.
He pointed out that it has been there since October 2019 and was a result of previous copper mining in the area.
He went on to say that it has become very dangerous in these intervening years and asked if Cork County Council has a plan to make it safe.
Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy (FF) seconded the motion and said he has had ‘his ears worn off’ about the sinkhole and that it was ‘falling between two stools.’
The Council have ruled out filling in the sinkhole in Allihies.
‘Cork County Council doesn’t have funding to do something about it and the question is, when is the next one going to appear?’ he asked.
‘This is a big problem and if we can’t repair it , then we need to make it safe.’
Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) said they were told that the Office of Public Works (OPW) were in charge but nothing has happened since.
‘If this was up in Dublin it would have been sorted ages ago. We are just forgotten down here in West Cork and this sinkhole is causing huge disruption to people living in the area,’ said Cllr Collins.
Council engineer Kevin Lynch said that they had engaged consulting engineers to inspect the issue at Allihies.
‘The dearth of accurate information regarding the historic underground workings would mitigate against filling in the sinkhole, as no guarantees can be reached for future road safety.’
He confirmed that their intention is to ‘cul-de-sac’ the relevant roads and erect permanent fencing as there are other open mines in the area.
The process will commence next year, with the removal of the public rights of ways through these sections of the affected public roads.
