'A brutal solution': Calls for removal of bollards on Cork city's northside

SINN Féin representatives on Cork’s northside have said conditions in a residential area which is also an industrial zone and a major sporting centre would be tolerated in no other part of the city.

The distance from Castleview AFC to St Vincent’s Hurling and Football Club is just under a kilometre, and the footpaths along the route are studded with huge concrete bollards, 300 of them, each one weighing a tonne.

The bollards were introduced years ago to prevent vehicles from parking on the pavements along the northside roads, but their main effect has been to render the footpaths completely impassible.

“The bollards stretch from John F Connolly Road to Churchfield Road to Kilmore Road Lower right up to the gates of St Vincent’s,” Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent told The Echo.

“This was a very brutal solution to an issue that could have been addressed in other ways from day one.”

His party colleague, Thomas Gould TD, said the removal of the bollards needed to be a priority for Cork City Council.

“It is an absolute disgrace that this has been left the way it is for so many years,” Mr Gould said.

“You have Castleview and Temple United soccer clubs, hundreds of kids train up there, you have the Golden Gloves boxing club, you have the Tae Kwan Do club, you have the Cork Centre for Boxing, all up there, and you can’t walk on the footpaths because you have bollards there,” Mr Gould added.

“Kids have to walk on the road, you can see the big articulated trucks, big bin trucks because you’ve got three or four waste collection services up here, that should never have been given permission to be up here.

“These shouldn’t have been allowed in the middle of a residential area, but even with all of that, look at the condition of the place,” the northside Sinn Féin TD said.

‘WOULDN’T BE ALLOWEDANYWHERE ELSE’

“This wouldn’t have been allowed to happen anywhere else in Cork, but because it’s in Churchfield, connected to Knocknaheeny, it was forgotten about.”

He added that while he and his colleagues welcomed the resurfacing of John F Connolly Road, which began last week, they were calling for the footpaths to be fixed.

“People pushing buggies, people with a disability, how in the name of God can they go up and watch a soccer match, go to the boxing, or just go to work, is beyond me.”

Councillor Kenneth Collins said Sinn Féin had been calling on Cork City Council to remove the bollards for a long time.

“A simple solution to this, back in the day, would have been to place a 10-inch plinth down the footpath,” Mr Collins said.

Mr Gould said he and Mr Collins had, some years ago, travelled to Limerick and to Dublin to see an alternative solution to the bollards, and he said such a deterrent was now in place in Cork.

“In fact if you go down to Mahon you will see there’s a little lip on the footpaths to prevent anyone from parking up on them, and then there’s no need for the bollards, but those bollards would not have been put anywhere else,” Mr Gould said.

He said he had spoken with business-owners who said they could not bring investors up to the area, because of the conditions there.

“These are entrepreneurs who are trying to bring jobs to the northside, some of these are national companies, some are international companies, and they’re saying the conditions up here are deplorable,” he said.

Cllr Collins said he had received representations from employers in the area concerned for the safety of their staff.

“The Kilkenny group, which is up there, which is a major employer in this country, they’ve been onto us, they’re fearful for their employees walking home, especially now coming into the winter, public lighting is very, very poor here.”

Cllr Nugent said the recently commenced road resurfacing was very welcome, but traffic-calming measures must follow, as well as the removal of the bollards.

“I know people will say that myself and Kenneth and Tommy are always talking about the northside and the imbalance and the neglect, but when people come here, they can see it for themselves,” he said.

“We’re very positive about the sporting successes that the area has had lately, with Amy O’Connor in the camogie with Cork and Denise O’Sullivan in the Women’s World Cup with Ireland, but we need to get fair dues as well from the city council and the Government, in terms of this area.”

CITY COUNCIL OPTIONS

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said:

“A Cork City Council engineer met with two local councillors last year to consider options for improvement works on John F Connolly Road, Churchfield Road, and Kilmore Road Lower.

“The proposed works will likely include the removal of the existing bollards, footpath replacements, etc,” they said.

“These preliminary design proposals will be finalised in the coming weeks after which an application for funding will be made to the National Transport Authority.”