Cllrs told Council doesn't own car park – the church does

COUNCILLORS were surprised to hear that the carpark between St Mary’s National School and the Church of The Immaculate Conception in Enniskeane is actually owned by the church, and not by Cork County Council, as originally believed.

The subject of the car park was raised by Cllr Paul Hayes (SF) at a meeting of the Municipal District of West Cork. 

He had called for a review of parking arrangements there to improve child and pedestrian safety, as well as reducing the number and location of 10 recycling banks. Cllr Hayes, along with other councillors who had attended a meeting with the Parents Association about the car park, had been under the impression that the car park was owned by Cork County Council.

However, area engineer in Dunmanway, Cait Lehane told councillors that the car park is owned by the church.

‘We’ve always been involved in it, but we don’t actually own it. There are seven recycling bins there owned by the environment department of Cork County Council that were put in at the request of the community, and there are three textile recycling bins which aren’t Council-owned and at least six car spaces are being taken up there,’ she said.

‘We have patched it alright, but I checked with the Land Registry to discover that we don’t own it. ‘

Cllr Hayes said this revelation shed new light on the matter so he said they need to go back and tell the school authorities this information.

‘Re-surfacing was the hot topic at the meeting we attended and the fact that there are 10 recycling banks on site which are taking up valuable car parking spaces. Would we able to reduce them or relocate them and free up parking spaces as the school population has increased?’ asked Cllr Hayes.

He had also called for a change of the layout of the car park as he pointed out that if someone uses the disabled bay, then the school bus can’t park there.

Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) said it is a very busy road through a main thoroughfare and added they would have to look at the concerns of the parents

‘Is there a need for 10 bins? he asked. 

Cllr Declan Hurley (Ind) also lent his support to the motion and said capacity is the big issue there, as well as the state of the surface.

‘It’s also a safety issue and there is concern for both school and church users,’ said Cllr Hurley, who called for some temporary measures such as speed-activated signs to be put in place to slow down traffic.

Cait Lehane told councillors that the local priest has been notified about the ownership of the car park. She also added that the Council looking into installing a pedestrian crossing there.

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