Vestry holds the key to new car park

THE Killaloe Church of Ireland Vestry holds the key to the sale or leasing of land for a badly needed car park in the lakeside town, it emerged this week.

The Vestry, which is the equivalent of the Catholic parish council, owns what is known locally as Dean’s Field across from Convent Hill.
Clare County Council identified one acre in this field as a possible site for the provision of 150 car spaces back in 2006, which never materialised due to a lack of funding.
A new campaign highlighting the need for short and long-term measures to increase car parking for tourists and shoppers, was launched at a public meeting organised by the South Killaloe Traders’ Network in the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe on Thursday last.
The re-introduction of double yellow lines in Royal Parade and lower Main Street has prompted renewed calls for a new public car park.
Clare County Council has requested a current revaluation of the site and is interested in entering into discussions with the Vestry with a view to securing a lease or possible purchase in the long term.
Dean of Killaloe, Very Rev S R White told The Clare Champion he understood a letter would be written to him concerning Dean’s Field and once he received this communication, he would pass it on to the Vestry to discuss the matter. 
A sub-committee will be formed consisting of senior executive engineer, Seán Lenihan; Councillors Cathal Crowe, Joe Cooney, Pascal Fitzgerald and Michael Begley; garda superintendent John O’Sullivan; Deputies Michael McNamara, Alan Kelly and Timmy Dooley and six traders.
Senior executive engineer Seán Lenihan acknowledged there is a parking issue in Killaloe and while the optimum solution is a new car park, funding is not available from development levies.
He pledged to enter into negotiations with the owners of the preferred site following a revaluation and undertook to look at possible alternative sources of funding.
Responding to traders’ concerns and suggestions at the meeting, he proposed that car-poolers should park all day at Ballycuggeran instead of Convent Hill or Between the Waters. He advised business people and staff working in Killaloe to park near the hurling field leaving more on-street parking available for visitors and customers.
In addition to re-locating the bottle banks from Between the Waters car park, he pledged the area would be relined to provide more public spaces.
Commenting on the extra double lines in Royal Parade, he explained this was necessary following discussion with the gardaí, the fire authorities and from his own investigation of traffic management issues in Killaloe. 
However, he also noted two set down areas were provided at both ends of the street to facilitate deliveries, someone using the ATM and people going to local shops.
“There was significant conflict along the Royal Parade from badly and illegally parked cars and due to the volume of traffic using that section of the R463 Regional Road.  Many times, I observed chaos there due to badly parked cars. Unfortunately, the roadway is not wide enough to facilitate two way traffic and parking at that location,” he said.
Responding to a query about cars speeding to the traffic lights, he advised that the area is a 50kph zone and that exceeding this limit is a matter for the gardaí.
The introduction of bylaws limiting on-street parking to two hours was considered as the least favoured option due to the necessity of monitoring by a traffic warden.
The meeting was chaired by Killaloe Electoral Area chairman Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald, who stated local councillors supported traders’ efforts to provide more parking to make one of the main tourist attractions in South-East Clare a better place to shop. Councillor Fitzgerald confirmed this issue would be discussed at the next joint meeting of the Killaloe and Newport Electoral Area.
Traders raised the issue of a lack of parking and set down areas along the Main Street in Killaloe for locations such as the Family Resource Centre and Post Office, particularly for the elderly.
Mr Lenihan agreed that he would look into the possibility of providing a set down area for access to these services.
Deputies Alan Kelly, Timmy Dooley and Michael McNamara confirmed there is no money for capital projects such as the purchase of lands to develop a car park.
In addition to securing co-operation from North Tipperary County Council, Deputy Kelly pledged to try and secure funding from Failte Ireland while Deputy Dooley promised to raise the possibility of other ways of securing money with Environment Minister, Phil Hogan.
Deputy McNamara said it was a time for “ingenuity and communities working together to obtain a solution and promised to write to the owners of the proposed site”.