*Finian Park.
HOUSING ESTATES in Shannon are deprived of car parking spaces according to local county councillors.
For the second bi-monthly meeting in a row, councillors in the Shannon Municipal District raised concerns with the shortage of parking for homeowners and residents and across the town.
Securing extra spaces in Finian Park will result in the loss of green space, Clare County Council officials have cautioned.
Cllr James Ryan (SF) requested additional car parking spaces be sourced in Finian Park at the July meeting of the Shannon MD.
Acting senior executive engineer in the Shannon MD, Caimin Dillon confirmed, “the current car parking provision in Finian Park will be investigated”. He cautioned, “Any potential additional spaces will result in the loss of green areas. Car parking is also available at Tullyvarraga Hill”.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Cllr Ryan outlined, “It needs more car parking spaces, people who live there can’t park nearby, I understand we don’t want to get rid of green areas but a small addition of car parking spaces would go a long way, I’m not looking for a huge amount of car spaces but people genuinely can’t park near their houses, some of them not within a few hundred metres. It might seem like a first world problem but it is a thing that we do to park at our houses”.
“Every house is now a three or four car household,” Dillon acknowledged. “My own house has three, our neighbours have four because the children are grown up and can’t move out, we can’t say one house two cars,” Cllr Ryan replied.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) flagged that it is an issue for every housing estate in Shannon. He recalled funding the provision of extra spaces in Cluain Airne through his General Municipal Allocation (GMA), “you can see the difference it makes but the very minute it was done and it went out I had funded it, I had calls from every part of Shannon looking for me to spend my GMA to get them more spaces”. He continued, “it is needed for every housing estate in Shannon. When Shannon was built in the 1960s, there was one car for the whole Fergus Rd”.
