TWO HOUR delays were experienced by East Clare residents due to massive backlogs at Ballycuggeran on Saturday.
On Saturday, Gardaí issued a number of motorists with fixed charge penalty notices for various parking offences at Ballycuggeran/Two Mile Gate in Killaloe. Some of the offences included parking opposite a continuous white line and on footpaths of the busy thoroughfare from Killaloe to Ogonnelloe, Tuamgraney and Scariff.
Highlighting the matter at Wednesday’s meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) remarked that illegal parking at Ballycuggeran has “reached a critical stage, last Saturday afternoon it was extremely dangerous”.
He outlined, “People were more than two hours trying to get to Two Mile Gate or Ballycuggeran or as it is known by the visitors, Killaloe Beach”. He said, “Cars were abandoned and caused distress for people trying to go from A to B, people that were going to work and people that were going home got caught up in this”.
Cllr O’Brien requested a meeting with An Garda Síochána in Killaloe be held to discuss the shared responsibility between the Gardaí and local authority. “It is at a critical stage that we can’t ignore, we need to bite the bullet. It is not good enough for people living in East Clare to be putting up with that, we can’t sit back and allow it to continue, there’s serious consequences if we don’t act. We have a responsibility as Clare County Council because it is our facility and An Garda Síochána have a responsibility from an enforcement point of view”.
Families were unable to get back to their own homes because of the delays, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) flagged. “We need to get this done this week,” he said of the meeting with Gardaí. “We might have the fine weather again. It was bedlam down there. Contractors couldn’t get through when they were trying to get to farms, people had to sit in traffic for two hours, that is not what we want”.
Senior planner, Brian McCarthy confirmed a meeting with Gardaí could be organised. “We have regular updates from An Garda Síochána but we will seek a meeting as soon as we can”. He suggested a masterplan for Ballycuggern form part of the long-term plan to negating the issue “to have a coordinated approach to managing and developing it”.
