Ballyvolane's Spring Lane quiet after weekend's unrest

The Spring Lane halting site in Cork’s Ballyvolane was quiet this morning, after a weekend of unrest which saw two men hospitalised with gunshot wounds.

The garda helicopter and members of the armed response unit attended the scene during two days of unrest at Spring Lane, and on Sunday there was what gardaí called “the discharge of a weapon”.

One man is understood to have suffered a bullet wound, while the other has injuries caused by pellets. Neither man is believed to have sustained life-threatening injuries.

This morning, a garda armed response jeep slowly patrolled the sprawling site, which is home to more than 140 people, who live in as many as 80 mobile homes.

The caravans are organised in blocks which are navigated by dusty and potholed makeshift lanes.

One older man got out of a parked car and was unhappy about being asked about the weekend’s incidents.

“You haven’t one bit of business here,” he said, as a group of five younger men gathered around him.

“Ye only ever come down here when there’s trouble.”

Another man, whose small daughter was using a length of rope to lead a foal along the road, asked that, instead of reporting violent incidents, this newspaper report on the conditions in the halting site. Pointing to a large and deep pothole, he said he was “blue in the face” from asking Cork City Council to repair the road surface.

“They don’t care, the council don’t care one bit about us,” he said.

Around the corner, a younger man declined to comment, saying the people “up the hill over” would talk. Up the hill over, another young man demanded to know who had said he would talk to the media.

Spring Lane was originally a gravel quarry before it was turned into a 10-bay halting site in 1989.

In 2021, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) criticised Cork City Council for what it said were “shocking” and “deplorable” conditions for children at the site. The report found that children were living in filthy, overcrowded, rat-infested and unsafe conditions where raw sewage was visible.

At the time, the OCO found that about 140 people were using toilets and washing facilities designed for 40 people.

In 2024, the council drew up plans for an €18m regeneration of the site, which were subsequently approved by councillors. The plans included the redevelopment of the halting site and the construction of a new purpose-built group housing scheme in the adjacent Ellis Yard.

Last September, Green Party councillor Oliver Moran was told the council was working on progressing those plans.

A Cork City Council spokesperson said the scheme had received Part 8 planning approval, and council intended for the works to go to tender in the coming weeks.