Carrick-on-Suir Main Street parking spaces dispute query shut down at council meeting

A Labour councillor’s attempt to raise the controversy over plans to remove more than 20 car parking space from the town’s Main Street at Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District’s monthly meeting was promptly shut down.

Cllr Michael ‘Chicken’ Brennan enquired about finding out more about the proposed removal of the parking spaces at the end of the meeting in Carrick Town Hall last Thursday as he had received phone calls and emails about the issue

The recently elected councillor noted that he wasn’t a member of the Council when this parking issue initially arose.

District Cathaoirleach Cllr Mark Fitzgerald responded that they were not discussing this issue because a group had filed something and they would have to wait until the outcome.

He was referring to the 45-page complaint lodged by the Main Street Business Initiative to the Minister for Rural & Community Development Heather Humphreys on Friday, October 11.

The group, comprising traders, property owners and residents from Main Street and some adjoining streets, is campaigning to save 27 parking spaces that are due to be permanently removed from the street under the town’s €17.9m regeneration scheme.

The number of parking spaces on the street is set to drop from 54 to 33 as part of the Regeneration Scheme facelift planned to take place in 2026.

The MBI points out six further spaces have already been lost on the street due to temporary footpath build outs installed during the Covid pandemic.

The action group’s complaint concerns alleged flaws in the Rural Regeneration Development Fund (RRDF) grant application that Tipperary County Council submitted to Minister Humphreys’ department for the Carrick Regeneration Scheme and alleged flaws in the schem’’s planning application process.

The complaint concerns alleged flaws in the public consultation process including breaches of Public Participation Network (PPN) rules that the group contends disenfranchised its members.

It also details what the MBI regards as flawed assumptions made in the application and issues with the project’s Environmental and Wildlife Impact Assessments.

Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Director of Services Brian Beck followed up Cllr Fitzgerald's response to Cllr Brennan’s query by explaining that a complaint had been lodged with the Minister and was being investigated by the Minister and it wasn’t appropriate for the Council to comment on the matter at this stage.

“We have to respect the fact that there is a complaint and the Department will be engaging with us.”

He said the Council hadn't yet seen the complaint. It had to respect due process and wait until the complaint came through the initial stage. Anything the Council said at this point would be inappropriate.

Cllr Fitzgerald told Cllr Brennan that the other councillors were all very aware of the issue as the people involved in the campaign had engaged with all the elected members.

Carrick-on-Suir Cllr Kieran Bourke suggested that when the complaint was processed that Mr Beck might come back to councillors and give a briefing on the matter either in public or in-camera.

Cllr Fitzgerald invited Cllr Brennan to meet with them after the meeting to discuss the issue in view of the fact he was a new councillor.

Mr Beck said they were happy to brief Cllr Brennan on the entirety of the regeneration plan without going into the specifics about the nature of the complaint and were happy to respond to any queries he had.