Cork councillor calls for Luas link to service Douglas and Carrigaline  

Chair of the Cork City Council transport committee, Labour Party Councillor Peter Horgan, has received confirmation that a second round of public consultation on Luas Cork will take place in the next few months, with an expectation that the final route will be detailed before the end of 2026.

“The sheer scale of the consultations received shows the appetite from the people of Cork for a light rail system, but more importantly a light rail system that works for the people of Cork,” said Mr Horgan.

“I welcome the swiftness in presenting the next round with amendments and look forward to the Cork public engaging on it again.

“I reiterate we should be implementing spurs to the airport and towards Douglas and Carrigaline to future proof the light rail ecosystem along with enhancing the northside areas that won’t be supported under the Cork Commuter Rail project.

“Rail is by far the fastest moving alternative to single occupancy vehicles and the Cork Commuter Rail is a success story that I want to see replicated over the river on the southside especially.”

Responding to Mr Horgan the NTA said in a statement: “Luas Cork is a proposed light rail line running from Ballincollig to Mahon Point, connecting key destinations such as MTU, Cork University Hospital, UCC, Cork city centre, Kent Station, Cork Docklands, Blackrock and Mahon.

“A non-statutory public consultation was launched in April 2025 on the Emerging Preferred Route for Luas Cork."

Submissions

“Just over one thousand submissions were received in respect of that consultation, which have been reviewed and assessed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and their design team.

“Arising from the consultation process, some amendments are anticipated to be made to the scheme proposals.

“Following the development of those revised designs, it is intended that TII will undertake a second round of public consultation in quarter two of 2026, setting out a proposed ‘Preferred Route’.

“It is expected that, following the finalisation of the preferred foute later this year, the project would progress to preparing the extensive documentation required for a Railway Order application to An Coimisiún Pleanála in tandem with developing the Preliminary Business Case for the project, as required by the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.”