Call for street safety audit after Bandon building collapses

A BANDON councillor is calling for the immediate demolition, or remediation, of a building that collapsed at Oliver Plunkett Street in the early hours of Tuesday morning last week, adding that a safety audit should now be carried out on adjacent buildings.

Cllr Gillian Coughlan (FF) said it is imperative that there is a plan in place to make the area safe for pedestrians, residents and business owners. ‘I know of one newly-refurbished business and the owners can’t gain access to it as a result of the street being closed off,’ she said.

‘I don’t want people to be endangered by this building and I’d be calling for that building and the adjacent ones to be made safe. Council staff must also be praised for closing the street earlier on Monday evening, too, before the building collapsed later that night.’

Chairperson of Bandon Business Association (BBA) Frank O’Leary, agreed that the Council staff were on the ball in closing the street earlier that day and ‘it was lucky no one was injured.’

Cork County Fire Service received a call at 12.30am on Tuesday to assist in making the scene safe following the collapse of the building – a vacant residential premises – with both Bandon Fire Brigade and a hydraulic platform from Midleton Fire Brigade attending the scene.

‘With the aid of a hydraulic platform, fire crews assisted in removing scaffolding which had been damaged and was hanging out over the street following the collapse. The scaffolding was taken down to a safe level before the fire service departed the scene at 6.06am,’ said a spokesperson.

Gardaí and an ESB crew also attended the scene of the collapse.

The lower end of Oliver Plunkett St remains closed pending a decision on the building’s future.