A BANDON Councillor said her one wish for 2026 would be a community multi-use sports complex for Bandon, which she said is lacking in a town with a growing population.

Cllr Gillian Coughlan (FF) was speaking at a meeting of Bandon Kinsale Municipal District where she called on the municipal district to be ‘ambitious and think big’ for villages and towns within the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District.

‘A lot of issues that we have discussed seemed to be coming up again and maybe we can take stock of the motions over the past 24 months and see where we are with them,’ asked Cllr Coughlan.

‘There are just a few things that I raised before including the renaming of the New Road in Bandon as well as calls to increase capacity at Bandon Community Hospital. The issue of a new reservoir too is another one I have raised before.’

She asked if a desktop overview of the various motions could be looked at to see where they are.

‘Bandon is doing great and I’m looking forward to a planned retail strategy for the town later in the year but what I would really love is some sort of performance space or multi-use indoor sports complex.’

She pointed out that a lot of sports complexes are private and that there is a need for a big sports community hall in the town.

‘If we are looking at European Funding I think Kinsale needs its bypass to reduce congestion and there is also a need for another secondary school in the town. We need to think big and be ambitious for our towns and also for our villages.’

Cllr Coughlan also praised the work carried out by the Bandon and Kinsale engineering team during 2025. Cllr Ann Bambury (SD) echoed her sentiments and said she has seen massive improvements across the municipal district since she was elected. She added that she is also looking forward to the marketing and retail strategy planned for Bandon with support from Cork County Council.

‘I’m confident that with support from Cork County Council we can promote the town’s untapped potential. I would like to see empty properties too repurposed for multi-use spaces for the community and bring these back to life will enhance the social and economic vibrancy of the town.’

She added that it is essential that they tackle the dereliction and vacancy in Bandon to ensure they have that vibrancy in the community.’

‘There is still a good level of dereliction and vacant properties and it’s stagnating the town’s opportunity to move forward.

Councillors were told that the dual parking meters which were rolled out in Kinsale last year will be introduced in Bandon later this year.