City councillor seeks stopover facility for motorhomes

A CORK City councillor has called on the local authority to consider the provision of a motorhome stopover facility within the city boundary. The motion was tabled by Fine Gael’s Damian Boylan at Monday’s council meeting.

In his motion, Mr Boylan noted that there has been a “huge jump” in the sales of motorhomes in recent years and said it “makes sense” that a facility be available to tourists “to encourage them to visit and stay in Cork”.

“In Blarney we have people who visit and, through no fault of their own because there’s no place to park, will park their motorhome by the side of the road or in one of the various car parks,” he said.

“I’d like some support on it; sooner rather than later if that would be at all possible.”

In a report on the motion, the city council’s director of strategic and economic development, Fearghal Reidy, said while visitor accommodation stock in the city is “weighted towards hotels”, it is recognised that the availability of a wide choice of visitor accommodation which caters to different needs is “key to fostering sustainable tourism growth”.

The report also noted that there is an objective in the city development plan to “encourage the development of a range of new and enhanced visitor accommodation options in Cork City” which includes “working with stakeholders to explore opportunities to provide motorhome facilities for short-term stays”.

It continued that the provision of short-term motorhome facilities with associated services was explored some years ago by Cork City Council “but did not prove feasible at that time”.

“Fáilte Ireland is currently finalising a new research report concerning motorhomes in Ireland.

“In particular, the report seeks to identify supply side gaps in motorhome facilities and infrastructure in tourist locations, including commentary on market failure if any, and identify opportunities and blockages to the development of serviced parking sites.

“The findings should be available by the end of 2022 and will inform a study brief to be prepared by the Strategic Economic Development Directorate regarding the potential to develop short-term motorhome parking facilities in Cork City.”