Cork councillor says non-rail passengers using Kent Station's car park

KENT Station’s car parking facilities are under fire again, as a Cork South-Central councillor has highlighted that a nearby business is encouraging their customers to park there.

Fine Gael’s Shane O’Callaghan, who topped the poll at the recent elections, shared an email that had been sent to a woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, by the nearby Dean Hotel.

It told her: “We do not have a car parking facility at the hotel. We are right next to Kent Railway Station which offers two car parks at a rate of €9.50 for 24 hours. Once you park up you go into the station to get a ticket and just display this ticket on your car.”

It comes as Kent Station denied that the car park was being used by people other than train customers when Mr O’Callaghan tabled a motion proposing a system to ensure that only people getting the train could park there.

Capacity issues

“Kent Station car park is currently experiencing capacity issues on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in particular,” Iarnród Éireann told The Echo at the time. “This can be attributed to more people travelling longer distances due to hybrid working practices.”

“I first raised this issue in April because the carpark in Kent Station is almost always full by 6.30am every weekday,” Mr O’Callaghan told The Echo. “As a result, many passengers are forced to park on the street and then get issued with a fine for parking on the street for longer than two hours.

“It is clear from the sheer volume of cars in Kent Station carpark every morning that not all of the people parking there are using the train. That a nearby hotel, the Dean, has been actively encouraging its customers to park in Kent Station carpark is unacceptable.

“The Dean is a private hotel that made a commercial decision not to build its own carpark. It shouldn’t be encouraging customers to use a carpark that is only meant to be used by people getting the train.”

Challenge

He has called on the Dean Hotel to not encourage its customers to park in the station in future.

“I would again ask that the Department of Transport to engage with Cork City Council with a view to resolving this issue as soon as possible,” he added.

“As some customers pre-book train tickets, and some buy tickets at the station (and many OAPs will not have tickets either), it is not the case that all rail customers arriving at the station would necessarily have their train tickets when they do,” an Iarnród Éireann spokesperson said.

“Therefore, it is not a straightforward thing to put into practice. We will monitor this and examine options available to us, but it does represent a challenge.” The Echo contacted the Dean Hotel for comment.