Clonakilty car park to stay open for summer – but playground photo shocks

PLANS by the OPW to close Kent Street car park in Clonakilty this summer have been put on hold now until 2018. As part of the town’s flood relief scheme, the OPW had suggested closing the car park to carry out works on the river walls.

However, business owners in the town had expressed concern about the plan to close the car park, which would deprive the town of 80 valuable car spaces during the busy tourist season. 

Following a meeting between officials from the OPW and a delegation from Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday it was confirmed that the timeline has now changed due to a delay in a contractor being appointed for the works.

Kevin O’Regan, a member of the Chamber confirmed the change of plans to The Southern Star:

‘We were told that the timeline has now changed and that a contractor won’t be appointed until the summer and they won’t be able to go in this year and it would be May 2018 before anything happens.’

‘While we welcomed this we were also keen to come up with alternative solutions for when they do come in and commence works. We asked them to examine the possibility of only using half the car park while the works are being carried out and they’re open to that possibility.’

Chamber members also called for the process to be speeded up and called for the contractors to work longer hours to ensure this.

‘We are also looking at identifying areas in the town as a temporary car park while the works are being carried out at Kent Street car park and we are looking at a possible location with a private landowner,’ added Kevin. 

Meanwhile, there was outrage in the town after human faeces was discovered on a swing-bowl in the town playground on Monday.

Anthony McDermott, community mayor, and an outdoor worker with Cork County Council cleaned it up, describing it as ‘vile and disgusting.’

‘I got a call on Monday morning from my supervisor to say there were reports of faeces in the playground following complaints from parents there,’ Anthony told The Southern Star.

‘I was shocked to see it and I had to clean it in front of parents and children who were in the playground who said this incident should be highlighted. This is the first type of an incident like this in the playground and it’s always kept clean.’

Mr McDermott also said he didn’t know how any human being could do this and hopes it was a one-off incident.

‘I think it could have been a prank with teenagers who may have been Snapchatting it to each other. Hopefully by highlighting this, it might act as a deterrent to others.’

Anthony posted a picture of the human faeces in the bowl on his Facebook page on Monday which drew numerous comments from people, with most expressing their horror at the incident, while some called for DNA testing on the sample.