'We’re 35 years on and we’re still waiting': Blarney St residents call for action on traffic congestion

Residents of Ireland’s longest street say they have been waiting 35 years for Cork City Council to address traffic congestion issues.

Members of the Blarney Street and Surrounding Areas Community Association told The Echo they first carried out a traffic survey in 1990.

It is now more than two years since the council secured funding from the National Transport Authority (NTA) to appoint a consultant to assess options to reduce or discourage through vehicular traffic on Blarney St, with a public consultation of residents envisaged as part of that process.

The NTA funding was secured in February 2023, and in January 2024 the council announced that the consultation process was due to begin later in the year.

However, Tom Coleman, chairman of the residents’ group, said that consultation has yet to commence.

“The community association is an approved local council and we’ve heard nothing from the council since,” he said.

“We’re 35 years on and we’re still waiting.

“It’s very unfair on the residents, and it’s not good for the area that we have this gulf of traffic every day.”

Drawing attention to the Irishtown mural outside The Rock community centre, Mr Coleman said little had changed since the days that farmers travelled to Shandon to bring butter to the market, except that traffic had increased exponentially.

“We can’t widen the road, but there’s been a lot of developments since then and the population has grown, and it’s not just Blarney St, it’s Sunday’s Well, too,” Mr Coleman said.

“Shanakiel, you can hardly get up or down Shanakiel most days,” he said.

Mr Coleman said the association had suggested making Blarney St one way for traffic coming up from Shandon St as far as the turn-off for Baker’s Rd, where Blarney St is at its widest, but he stressed this had only been a suggestion.

“It doesn’t suit everyone, we understand that, but it would cost nothing on a trial basis,” he said.

Fianna Fáil city councillor in the North-West ward, Tony Fitzgerald, said that local councillors had raised issues regarding traffic congestion on Blarney St “numerous times” with Cork City Council and that the consultation process needed to begin as a matter of urgency.

“We need to establish the best possible solution to give priority to the local residents, perhaps of a one-way system either way, although that has not been established, but there is a lot of public opinion on it,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“At the last North-West LAC (local area committee), I requested an update to see where this process is going, to ease the frustration of the Blarney St and Surrounding Areas Community Association residents, and I will be requesting a full report at its next meeting at the end of April.”

A spokesperson for Cork City Council added that “a consultant has been appointed, and surveys have been carried out, which will be used to assess the location and inform an options report.

“Any identified solutions will be brought to local councillors for consideration in the first instance.”