*Dean’s Field. Photograph: Buffalo Studios Ireland.
“I’M not an eejit but I don’t like what I’m seeing,” remarked Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) when criticising the lack of urgency within Clare County Council to improve the provision of parking within Killaloe.
Dean’s Field in Killaloe has been identified for proposed car parking under the Killaloe/Ballina Town Enhancement & Mobility Plan.
As far back as 2006, Clare County Council first identified one acre in Dean’s Field for the provision of 150 car spaces but lack of funding stopped the project from becoming a reality. The land is owned by the Killaloe Church of Ireland Vestry.
Approved in January 2022, the Mobility Plan for the bordering towns “identified and proposed for car parking” at Dean’s Field. The pace at which the plans have progressed have irritated councillors with the Council top table blaming “a convoluted” legal process for stalling the development.
Raising the matter before the Killaloe Municipal District, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) asked the County Council for an update on the purchase of Dean’s Field “for the provision of a new car park in Killaloe which will be a vital piece of infrastructure for the town. This land is identified as such in the local town plan”.
Acting senior engineer, Declan Flanagan referenced Dean’s Field inclusion in the Mobility Plan. “This proposed site would allow for positive connectivity to Abbey Street, Royal Parade, John Street and to the recent pedestrianised Killaloe-Ballina bridge with a potential of bring in additional tourism to the twin towns of Killaloe and Ballina”.
Allocation of €1m under the Category 2 Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) for the Plan “will support the Killaloe-Ballina Twin Town Tourism, Regeneration and Enhancement Project, enabling the project to progress through detailed design, public consultation, and statutory planning approval,” he stated. “This funding allocation will be used to prepare a funding application for the larger Category 1 RRDF funding for the delivery of significant public realm regeneration and enhancement projects in Killaloe and Ballina”.
Flanagan said “an integral part” of the submission was to progress the twin towns to be shovel ready “for the larger funding Category 1 project to develop key sites within the twin towns. One of the projects identified has been the purchase of lands for town centre car-park to facilitate disruption in advance of construction and for long term car-parking and motorhome/campervan tourism accommodation”. He outlined that engagements will continue over the coming weeks with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Tipperary County Council and the landowner of the Dean’s field.
Speaking at a Killaloe MD meeting, Cllr O’Brien said there was “nothing in the answer that we didn’t know already”. He commented, “We all know Dean’s Field is identified in the Mobility Plan, we need action. Brian McCarthy (former senior planner) indicated negotiations were ongoing with proprietor of the field, I was of impression that the deal was nearly completed and we could seek funding to complete a necessary piece of infrastructure which is key parking”.
Scarcity of parking exists in Killaloe, Cllr O’Brien flagged. “There’s a few spaces which serve the top of the town, the only other parking for the town centre is in Aldi with 29 spaces which are full 90% of the time”. He added, “Parking in Killaloe for visitors is hugely scarce, it is problematic for the schools, we’ve St Anne’s Community College with close to 700 students, we’ve a major issue with car parking in Killaloe, we all know it is identified in the plan but I was of impression it was coming on stream and that we’d be talking about design, layout and room for camper vans and coaches”.
On the RRDF funding, Cllr O’Brien remarked, “We got €1m but that has to be shared with Ballina, I don’t think it is a 50/50 breakdown. A car park in Killlaloe is a necessary piece of infrastructure, I’m taken aback and disappointed that we haven’t progressed it to a stage where we’re ready to sign documents. We’ve had major infrastructural changes in Killaloe and our traffic flow system where we had shared facilities with our counterparts in North Tipperary in Ballina, that is no longer an option, they have nowhere to pull up, I’m wondering do people at top table realise how necessary it is for town of Killaloe to progress”.
He continued, “Declan is in the firing line because you answered, Siobhán if the senior management team in fairness if this is where we’re at I’m hugely disappointed, I’ll be bringing up at a higher level”.
Car parking and traffic calming are frequently flagged as “the usual items”, Cllr Conor Ryan (FG) noted while referencing the villages of Quin and Tulla as other examples. “I support the purchase of the field and the delivery of car parking spaces in Killaloe, it has been highlighted as of great strategic importance as the gateway into Co Clare as part of our spine of tourism going into Lough Derg, in order to open up Killaloe I believe the delivery of car parking spaces is of serious importance”.
Understanding has been provided by elected members in supporting pedestrianisation in Killaloe and the Council must now step up, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) stated. “I can understand his annoyance, this isn’t what we planned for, our understanding is that we were progressing the field, we supported the closure of bridge and the opening of a new one, Killaloe Municipal District facilitated so much, it is time to get pay back, we need to our get ducks in a row, it is an issue that has to be resolved”.
Negotiations have been ongoing on the purchase of Dean’s Field, Flanagan told councillors, “there’s legal issues to be thrashed out, those issues need to be ironed out, they will go to the management team. There are some legalities that we need to look into. That is where we’re sitting at the moment, we provided temporary use for lands in August and September, they have been working well with us, there are some legal issues to resolve and they have to be brought to new management”.
Urgency is lacking from senior officials in the Council, Cllr O’Brien stressed. “We have a situation where we’re in negotiations, we have the land which is zoned properly, the owner is willing to sell and Clare County Council is willing to buy, I get back a reply which says it is stalling, I’m reading between the lines, I’m thinking somewhere around the Áras people have got their feet under table and saying section one is done by closing the bridge, the urgency of when bridge opened in May is not there, maybe I am putting one and one together and getting four, I’m not an eejit but I don’t like what I’m seeing”. He said, “Killaloe desperately needs the parking spaces” and admitted he believed the negotiations were “further down the line”.
Director of Tourism Development, Siobhán McNulty advised, “the commitment exists, nobody is dragging their heels, it is in a process and it is a convoluted process. It was not our ambition to lead you down the garden path”. She said “strategic investment” has been done for the entire county. “We’re not waiting. We haven’t stalled this, we have to work within the cloth we have with the budget available, we haven’t parked this, we’re not delaying it, we’re in a legal process which is delaying it”.
