*Monastery Lane in Ennistymon.
ENNISTYMON’s new car park will have more than 42 parking spaces according to hopeful officials in Clare County Council.
A date for the opening of this car park which has been in the offing for the past six years has not been committed to by the local authority but they are optimistic that works could be completed by the summer.
In 2022, planning permission was granted for the delivery of an off-street car park on Monastery Lane in Ennistymon. A consultant has been appointed by Clare County Council “to maximise efficiency” with the project to try accelerate its delivery and increase the amount of parking spaces.
Since planning was secured, efforts to rehouse bats located around Monastery Lane in Ennistymon delayed the project. The purchase of the car park was first discussed with former Director of Economic Development, Liam Conneally in December 2019, the delays stretching over five years plus have been labelled previously by Cllr Shane Talty (FF) as “embarrassing”.
Former Chief Executive of the Council, Pat Dowling had given a commitment that the car park would be completed by the end of 2025.
Demolition works for the car park commenced in the final quarter of last year and are still ongoing.
At the March meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) requested an update on the car park’s completion. “Our next meeting is not until May, in the meantime we are going to have a huge influx to North Clare over the Easter and summer period”. He stressed, “we need to make provisions”.
Senior executive officer in the West Clare MD, Eoin Troy outlined that works were ongoing at present. “The demolition phase is nearly complete, once that is complete some ancillary works need to be completed. We have engaged a consultant to maximise efficiency in the location in terms of the amount of car spaces we will fit in the area”.
He said it was “subject to funding” but noted they were hopeful of finishing the project this year.
Cllr Slattery then questioned if funding had already been provided to which Troy confirmed it had been secured for demolition works.
42 spaces are earmarked for the car park, Cllr Slattery said. The senior executive officer flagged that the external consultant was hired “to maximise efficiency and try get more” parking spaces. “We hope to have it finished by the summer but we can’t commit to a date,” he added.
