Cork City Council urged to 'seize opportunity' and refurbish iconic Parliament Bridge  

Calls have been made for the refurbishment of the historic Parliament Bridge in Cork City centre after a large section of its wall was damaged when a car struck it early this morning. 

A whole corner section of the wall was knocked down after the car collided with it just before 1am, with a man and a woman hospitalised following the collision.

An Garda Síochána have confirmed that their injuries are not life-threatening.

Road maintenance crews were called to attend the scene.

An approximately 8m length of stone parapet was damaged and had to be removed, with a large amount of the stone recovered by the crews and taken into storage.

Safety barriers were erected around the scene of the incident, and the western footpath of Parliament Bridge has been closed at the junction with Sullivan’s Quay.

Hospital

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána told The Echo: “Gardaí and emergency services attended a single-vehicle road traffic collision that occurred at approximately 12.55am today, Wednesday, May 15, on Parliament Bridge in Cork city.

“Two people, a man and a woman, were conveyed to Cork University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries sustained.”

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said: “Cork City Fire Brigade attended a call to a road traffic collision at Parliament Bridge at 12.51am.

“Casualties were handed over to the National Ambulance Service.

“The area was made safe and left in the care of An Garda Síochána.

“Roads maintenance crews were called out to attend to the scene. An assessment of the remedial work required to the parapet will take place over the coming days. Traffic at the location is not affected.”

Independent councillor for Cork South Central, Mick Finn, told The Echo: “The council have it sealed off to make it safe, and I believe the plan is now to analyse what needs to be done for a short-term fix.”

“Long-term, I hope there can be a plan to bring it back to what it once was.

“Obviously this incident is unwelcome, and there will be a huge cost. I would call on the council to seize this opportunity to invest in its restoration,” he said.

Motion

He put a motion into the council yesterday, asking: “Given the need to repair Parliament Bridge, can Cork City Council source funding to do a complete refurbishment, conscious of its near 220-year-old history?”

The single-arched bridge linking George’s Quay to Fr Matthew Quay was built in 1806.

Cork Masons Historical Society member Jim Fahy told The Echo: “The main thing is that, when repairing this, they use Cork limestone and don’t use limestone from outside the country.”

He said that the council have been “very bad over the years when it comes to retaining and taking care of old heritage limestone”, and welcomed that the majority of displaced stone had been saved and taken into storage.

Councillor Kieran McCarthy, Lord Mayor of Cork, said Parliament Bridge was designed by William Hargrave, adding: “It would have been a key bridge for an expanding city, connecting the old part to the new part.

“Any history enthusiasts like myself will be keen to see it fixed.”

Mr McCarthy said that it has been 30 years, when Micheál Martin was Mayor of Cork, since the bridge was last restored, so he would welcome a total refurbishment.