Traders furious as Bandon street is still closed to traffic

FED up business owners on Oliver Plunkett St in Bandon are annoyed that a street, closed before Christmas, is still not open.

And now they are calling on Cork County Council to expedite the opening of the street, following the collapse of a building there in December. 

They have come together and signed a letter calling for the street to be re-opened as soon as possible.

Speaking to The Southern Star, Maeve Sweetnam, owner of La Modeliste, said there has been no footfall on Oliver Plunkett St for the last eight weeks due to the street being closed.

‘We just don’t have the footfall here and it really affected our Christmas trade, too, when you have no one passing your window. We also want to let people know that we are still open for business and in fact the whole town is open for business,’  said Maeve.

‘The re-opening of the street would also ease the congestion that the town has experienced in recent weeks. This closure is having an effect on the whole town and residents here are getting fed up with the closure.’

Evelyn McCarthy of The Kilmichael Bar, who drafted the letter, said that all businesses are suffering and she wants some compensation for the loss of business.

‘We’re losing business because of the closure and we need the street re-opened as soon as possible.’

Cllr Gillian Coughlan raised the issue at a meeting of Bandon Kinsale Municipal District last Friday and said there is ‘a vacuum in knowledge and communication’, which she said is creating upset.

‘We all agree public safety is paramount, but it’s not a volcano and engineers know it’s safe, so let’s open up the road,’ said Cllr Coughlan.

Senior executive engineer Charlie McCarthy said there is a problem with trying to resolve the ownership of the two buildings involved in the collapse. ‘It’s a very difficult one, as the two buildings are in different ownership, but we are doing everything possible that we can, to move it on.’