*Abbey Street car park. Photograph: John Mangan
MARCHES AND PROTESTS are commonplace in the county town but one with a new twist will quietly make its way across Ennis on Tuesday.
Save Ennis Town will hold a silent march on Tuesday morning leaving Abbey Street car park at 09:30 and proceeding to the offices of Clare County Council where they will lodge a petition with Mayor of the Ennis Municipal District, Cllr Pat Daly (FF).
3,500 signatures are attached to the petition which is asking county councillors to halt plans to build on Abbey Street car park and Harvey’s Quay as part of the Ennis 2040 Strategy.
Tensions between Save Ennis Town and Ennis 2040 DAC went up a notch in the past week when a statement was issued by the DAC refuting “false claims” from the community group who were labelled as a “protest group”. The group was formed in May following a public meeting where a crowd of 200 plus people gathered in The Temple Gate Hotel to voice their concerns on plans to build a mixed-use development on Abbey Street car park.
Chairman of Save Ennis Town, Gearoid Mannion urged county councillor “not to transfer this invaluable public property to Ennis 2040 DAC, an entity that, as presently constituted, can later dispose of this once public property, without the consent of the Clare County Council or the councillors themselves”.
He said, “There are many vacant sites that exist in Ennis that are ideal for regeneration and development. This is where Clare County Council and Ennis 2040 DAC should concentrate their plans”.
“Their plans will mean replacing parking, the taxi ranks and riverside amenities with large, multi-story buildings, of uncertain commercial viability. The Clare County Council/Ennis 2040 DAC proposals for these public locations form a type of speculative development comprising of high cost office and large retail plans that could see the centre of Ennis becoming home to a sorry gathering of abandoned ‘white elephants’ in the years to come,” Mannion added.
Extra impetus has been provided to the group with the support from the public. “The hugely positive public response to our petition demonstrates that the people of Ennis, and beyond, are overwhelmingly opposed to the destruction of our riverside car parks, a move that will tear the heart out of our beautiful town”.
In a statement to The Clare Echo, a spokesperson for Clare County Council stressed that “comprehensive public consultation” will be held by the Council and the Ennis 2040 DAC “before any proposed development takes shape once draft plans become available, giving everyone the opportunity to submit their feedback and share their views”.
Priorities of the National Development Plan are met with the Ennis 2040 Strategy, the spokesperson added “in seeking to regenerate and revitalise Ennis and to secure a more sustainable future for the town and county”.
New homes, retail outlets and commercial spaces will be built by Ennis 2040 DAC in conjunction with the Council, the spokesperson added. “The D.A.C. structure is designed to attract investment and employment opportunities to Ennis which has been extremely successful in developing town and city regeneration projects across Ireland including Limerick Twenty Thirty and The Housing Infrastructure Services Company in Cork”.
“Ennis has an opportunity to face the amazing natural asset that is the river Fergus and embrace it by building riverside board walks and plazas that will connect communities and provide an incredible outdoor amenity for everyone,” the Council spokesperson added.
Commitment to keep the current amount of 2,923 car parking spaces in Ennis was voiced by the Council. “These spaces will remain available for the foreseeable future. An additional 85 public parking spaces will be provided at the Waterpark campus in Drumbiggle subject to Part VIII planning approval being secured in late summer 2023. Planning permission also has been granted for the allocation of a further 129 permanent spaces at the Cloister Carpark, which currently offers 70 parking spaces. Furthermore, planning has been granted for the provision of 156 temporary spaces at the site of the former Boys National School.
“There currently is 1 parking space for every 13 people living in Ennis. To put this into context, Waterford City has 1 parking space for every 29 people, while Navan – a town not dissimilar in size and population to Ennis – has 1 parking space for every 24 people. While Clare County Council will continue to work actively towards the provision of additional public car parking in the town centre and its environs to complement existing parking facilities, it is important to note that the delivery of a town bus service in Ennis by 2025 and the rollout of Active Travel projects such as cycle lanes and pedestrian walkways during 2023 and 2024 will further improve access to the town”.
