Closure of car park in local Tipperary town causing 'complete chaos'

The Munster Hotel car park in Thurles has been closed to the public.

The car park provided parking in Thurles for a number of years, and was leased by the Tipperary County Council.

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The closure of the car park is among several other losses of car parking areas in the town, notably including the car park underneath the Source Arts Centre, which was closed due to a fire some years ago, and the loss of the car park adjacent to the centre, which was closed to make way for construction of the new Thurles Market Quarter.

Speaking with the Tipperary Star on the matter, Cllr Jim Ryan has called on both the Tipperary County Council and the owners of the car park to sit down and discuss the matter, in the hope that the car park will reopen as quickly as possible, emphasising the importance of the car park for the town.

“At this stage there needs to be really detailed and constructive discussions to take place between the owner and the Tipperary County Council,” he said.

“Previous discussions have broken down with no agreement to renew the lease. We can’t have a car park in the heart of town like the Munster Hotel car park closed with over 100 spaces. It’s needed for the businesses along Cathedral Street, Liberty Square, the residents, the schools, the church, and it’s a huge inconvenience to have it closed, particularly leading up to the busiest time of year for businesses, at Christmas, so I’m calling on both parties to use a bit of common sense, a bit of cop on, sit down, thrash out a deal, and come up with a deal that both parties will be happy with, to get the car park reopened as quickly as possible.”

Cllr Ryan spoke of the importance of the car park to the town, stating that many people have already been impacted by its closing, and how vital the car park is for businesses during the festive period.

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“These car parking spaces, as I said, over 100 car parking spaces, that are so close to the town centre of Thurles, it’s so important to have it reopened. It’s only when it’s closed that you realise how important it is, it caused complete chaos this morning, say, with people going in, dropping children off at school, the bus operators trying to drop off kids going to school, people going to work were caught up in traffic jams. There was total chaos, so we can’t, on a health and safety level, allow that to keep going on, so it’s vitally important that both the County Council and the owner will sit down and thrash out a deal that both parties will be happy with and get that car park reopened as quickly as possible, because a lot businesses depend on it for their customers to get in there, parking, a lot of students use it, and obviously for Masses, weddings, funerals, it’s vitally important as well.

“It’s a very strategically important car park for Thurles, it’s a town centre car park, it’s one of the biggest that we have, and to have it lying idle and closed is just not good enough, and the people out there are very disillusioned as regards to what went on and why it’s going on, so I’m calling on both parties to do the right thing and get that car park reopened as quickly as possible.”