Lack of toilets stopping people using Cork greenways 

One of the reasons there are less women and girls using greenways is said to be due to the lack of public toilets along the routes.

That’s according to county council engineers in county Cork who have raised the issue with the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the National Transport Authority (NTA).

While both bodies are responsible for funding the construction of greenways, they didn’t provide money for such facilities or an annual maintenance budget after their completion, which is now seeing some of them degenerate rapidly.

A meeting of the council’s southern division heard that surveys carried out by council staff had highlighted that the lack of toilets was the main reason why more men than women are using local greenways. They have now highlighted this with TII and the NTA in the hope of getting some additional funding to construct them.

However, in the meantime, the cost of maintaining greenways to a proper standard is causing serious concern for councillors.

Short term maintenance 

Fine Gael councillor Rory Cocking, who chairs the southern division, was told that both bodies pay for short term maintenance when the projects are completed, but when that contract expires, it’s up to the council to carry out the work.

His party colleague, Anthony Barry, said that a lovely job had been done on the active travel route between North Esk in Glanmire and The Elm Tree bar and restaurant in Glounthaune, but it is now in a very bad state of disrepair. “It is now absolutely a mess,” Mr Barry said, adding that parts of it are full of invasive plant species.

He said a private contractor had quoted €10,000 for maintaining one small section of it for the year, which showed just how expensive maintaining that section of route will be, let alone all the other routes in the county.

“It is a shame we didn’t put in just grass and trees, as they’d be easier to maintain."

Lack of active travel links

He also highlighted the lack of active travel links to the railway station in Carrigtwohill as being completely unacceptable and a safety issue, especially for the huge number of pupils attending the nearby largest school campus in Ireland.

Municipal district councils currently have to pay for maintenance for those where the TII/NTA funding has lapsed and Mr Barry and other councillors say this is not sustainable, given the meagre budgets the eight municipal districts in the region have.

Fianna Fáil councillor Audrey Buckley urged the council to find money somewhere to provide portoloos along walking and cycling trails, at least on a temporary basis, during the summer months when usage would be at its peak.