{"id":480216,"date":"2026-05-12T03:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480216\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:13:12","slug":"pairc-ui-chaoimh-sees-plans-for-bus-set-down-and-turning-point-rejected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480216\/","title":{"rendered":"P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh sees plans for bus set-down and turning point rejected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans for a bus set-down and turning point<\/a> at the city side of P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh has been rejected by councillors amid concern by local residents.<\/p>\n

Cork City Council intended to consider<\/a> granting permission to P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh CTR for a vehicular setdown and drop-off circulation area at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh and Marina Park on Monahan Rd, Ballintemple.<\/p>\n

The development would materially contravene a zoning objective of the Cork City Development Plan which states that the subject site is situated on lands zoned as ‘public open space’, with the objective ‘to protect, retain, and provide for passive and active recreational uses, open space, green networks, natural areas, and amenity facilities.”<\/p>\n

As the zoning objective would not facilitate the proposed development, councillors first had to vote on amending the development plan to rezone the area so that the plans could be progressed.<\/p>\n

A council spokesperson noted that issues related to access, traffic, and parking were deemed satisfactory during the previous planning process.<\/p>\n

They said that subject to compliance with conditions agreed by planners, \u201cthe proposed development would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenity of the area; and is in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.<\/p>\n

The plan went to elected members after the planning body, an executive function of the council, agreed that the proposed development could be supported in principle from a planning perspective, notwithstanding a zoning objective.<\/p>\n

Prior to the vote, which took place at Monday night\u2019s council meeting, a public consultation was held on the amendment to the plan to facilitate the development, and a total of 17 submissions from the public were received by the council.<\/p>\n

Some 16 of these recommended refusal of the plans, mentioning issues including the lack of adequate traffic management currently in place for events at the facility, the choice to use a location near a popular pedestrian entrance, and safety concerns. One submission in favour was submitted by the applicant.<\/p>\n

Council debate<\/p>\n

Green Party councillor Dan Boyle said the proposal was \u201climiting of public space at the behest, and to the benefit, of an organisation\u201d, and a continuation of an ongoing trend which he objected to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must protect the utility we have created in Marina Park.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the supporters of the proposal was Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Michelle Gould, who said: \u201cAs an avid GAA fan and supporter of the GAA, they are the heart and soul of our city and county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re willing to travel length and breadth of county, but we can\u2019t even have proper access to our own home of the GAA.\u201d Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s Terry Shannon said that P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh was \u201cnot the GAA \u2014 it\u2019s a business\u201d, adding that there was already traffic gridlock in the area.<\/p>\n

His party colleague Mary Rose Desmond said she was well aware of the traffic issues, but \u201cwhether it is passed or whether it fails will make no impact in any way, shape or form, to the traffic congestion in the area.\u201d Labour\u2019s Peter Horgan said he was a GAA member, but the plan \u201cdissects a critical line in Marina Park. At the moment it\u2019s safe for families to use, as a mother or father you know that no cars will come up on that road.\u201d Both he and Fine Gael\u2019s Des Cahill said that if the plan was moved to the southern side of the building, they and local residents might be in favour of it.<\/p>\n

As the proposal constituted an amendment to the city development plan, 23 councillors, or three-quarters of the total, needed to vote in favour for it to be approved, rather than the simple majority that needs to be reached for most planning decisions.<\/p>\n

The vote came to 20 in favour and 10 against, with those 10 including the three Green Party councillors, three Labour, one Social Democrat, as well as Fianna Fail\u2019s Terry Shannon, Fine Gael\u2019s Des Cahill, and Independent Kieran McCarthy.<\/p>\n

As it failed to reach the majority required, the plans will not progress.<\/p>\n

Cork GAA response<\/p>\n

Cork GAA and the board of P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh\u00a0 told the Irish Examiner that they noted the refusal with disappointment.<\/p>\n

Cork GAA CEO Kevin O\u2019Donovan said: \u201cWe had consulted widely and considered multiple factors in making this application.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe design was intended to greatly improve public safety by making it easier for buses attending the stadium to allow their passengers to disembark away from the public roadway on Monahan Rd, and then to turn safely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not for commercial purposes, or to remove public access to Marina Park in any way. This was to help the flow of people on busy days at the county\u2019s largest venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now need to consider the options open to the stadium, as the decision of a minority of councillors does not solve the problem that required the action to be taken in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans for a bus set-down and turning point at the city side of P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[781,9,10,42,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-480216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-cork-city-council","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116559426955394419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}