Lighting issues at busy Cashel town car park need to be addressed now

The ongoing issues relating to the lack of adequate facilities at the Clonmel Road car park in Cashel were raised at the recent Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District meeting. The motion was brought that the Council carry out the necessary upgrades to the Clonmel Road car park (next to Cormac’s Cemetery/Leahy Park) in Cashel.

Councillor Declan Burgess asked that, in the interest of safety and enhancement, that the public light that was installed a number of years finally gets connected and that the council carry out resurfacing and realignment of the car park here. He said it was directed “a number of years ago by this Municipal District so I am looking for that to finally light up”. Cllr Burgess added that it was ‘a busy car park’ and an active GAA club as well as Cormac’s cemetery. 

“I note the response that we will look for funding streams to redo the car park. You might keep me and Councillor Kennedy up to date with it,” he said to the Council Representative. Cllr Roger Kennedy seconded the motion and asked if the “existing light can be upgraded to meet the requirement?” The response was that the answer was ‘no’ as it would cost approximately €7000 plus to put in a transformer to make it compatible.

In response to this revelation, Cllr Burgess said: “It is disappointing that a light was put in that is not in working order to connect to the supply there.” The Council representative said the light there could become “a major traffic hazard shining down,”. A councillor quipped in response ‘So you’ll go back to paraffin!’

Cllr Kennedy asked “Can the light be taken down and used elsewhere?” adding that “if we are not going to be able to use it at that location then we should explore the idea as soon as some suitable place comes up for a light like that.”

Interjecting at this point, Cllr Burgess said: “It was one of the last projects of the last Council that installed this,” before adding that the GAA club requested better lighting at the car park. “I would really urge that we need a light at that point so the District should engage with the lighting section there. It is a very busy car park not just in terms of GAA perspectives but for the community there,” he said.