Another storm could take Ring road

A WEST Cork councillor has called for urgent action to be taken on the Ring road (pictured) between the village and Clonakilty because a section of the coast road has subsided.

Cllr John O’Sullivan (FG) raised the issue at a recent Bandon Kinsale Municipal District meeting and said a piece of the roadway has caved in leading to single lane traffic between Ring and Clonakilty.

‘It needs to be attended urgently. It’s very serious and we need to put up bollards around it,’ said Cllr O’Sullivan. ‘In my opinion it’s a coastal budget issue but it’s a grey area but it’s definitely not good enough to leave it as it is. It might be difficult was there is land there but it does need attention.’

He also highlighted the fact that the road is within their municipal district but is actually under the Clonakilty area office.

‘It needs to be progressed as we can’t leave let the road disintegrate. If we get another storm from the south east it could take the whole road away,’ he warned.

Senior executive engineer Richard Cahill said their boundary for the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District is Ring, while Cllr O’Sullivan said Ring seems to be in two area offices.

Meanwhile, councillors were informed at the same meeting that the Council will not be in a position to apply for a Green Coast Flag for Oysterhaven in 2034. Municipal district officer Brian Dunne said that the E.coli figures for the area have fallen into ‘good’ classification from a previous ‘excellent’, which is mandatory for a Green Coast Flag application.

He said that data is based on four-year results and 2023 was a particularly bad year for Oysterhaven, which has resulted in this reduced status.

‘Storm Ellen hit Ireland in August 2020 with very high rainfall levels, which in turn, as we had expected, caused a deterioration of water quality,’ said Mr Dunne.

However, he said, if the water quality results are good for next year, then the classification should return to ‘excellent’ for 2025 and they will then be able to reapply for the Green Coast Flag.