Temporary closure of car park causes 'concern and frustration' in Tipperary

Acknowledging that there has been “some concern and frustration” about the closure of the Abbey Street car park in Clonmel, District Manager Sinead Carr has admitted that the council had to take responsibility for the fact that it didn’t have a more robust communication policy when the construction work started.

Vehicles are unable to access the car park until Monday October 14 to facilitate refurbishment works for the new performance space within the car park.

Ms Carr told a meeting of Clonmel Borough District that the performance space would be an additional area for holding music and poetry events, and would make the town more attractive for people to visit.

She said that there had been “significant consultation” with the Friars and local traders at the pre-design stage, and there had been further consultation at the design stage.

Ms Carr said that there was always going to be disruption while the work was taking place, and she accepted it would cause difficulty and distress.

She said that there was free parking for employees of local businesses at the Suirside car park (at the Gas House Bridge). Car parking is also available at Suir Island car park and there were facilities for securing permits for employees to park.

The District Manager said she had significant sympathy for elderly people who were trying to attend the weekly Mass at the Abbey House of Prayer on Tuesday morning, and they were working with the contractors to see if a solution could be found.

Ms Carr said they would try to minimise disruption as much as possible and they would continue to actively engage with the local traders and others in the area.

Once completed, the performance space would add significant value to the town and people would be happy with it. “I genuinely believe that,” she added.

It was part of the vision for the town and the development had been agreed in consultation with the retail forum, the Chamber of Commerce and others. “I genuinely believe we’re going the right way on this,” she said.

Cllr Niall Dennehy wondered if the Abbey Street car park was “worth the consternation and stress that had been generated” when you considered that the Kickham Barracks Plaza, which was available for the same purpose, was only a few minutes down the road.

Cllrs Pat English and Siobhán Ambrose hoped that the council could put plans in place to allow people to attend Mass on Tuesday morning.

Cllr English said it was important to note that the parking spaces weren’t being removed, and he hoped the timeframe of five months for the construction work could be reduced.

Cllr John FitzGerald said he had sympathy for Cllr Dennehy’s point about the plaza serving the same purpose. He said it wasn’t a bad idea to go back on plans if other solutions were available, although he also accepted the District Manager’s point about seeing the project through.

He said there was quite a bit of talk about this development.

Sinead Carr said that funding had been set aside for the car park development. It had been secured from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and she didn’t want to lose the money for the town. If they went back on this the council would also end up owing money to the contractor.

District Mayor Richie Molloy said it was important to get the message out that the car park would only be out of action while the works were in progress.

There had been public consultation, even though people often forget that they had an opportunity to have their say, and there was a demand from various arts groups for this performance space.

Cllr Molloy said there were positive things happening around the town, such as the bus service and the parking bays for the camper vans at Suir Island.

A lot of people were “knocking” the plaza in the early days but they were now saying it was a great idea. 

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