Kenneth O'Flynn
CITY councillor Kenneth O’Flynn has placed a motion before Cork City Council calling for two hours of free parking to be introduced on North Main Street and Paul Street car parks every Saturday between 9am and 11am.
Cllr O’Flynn said, “City Council must give business the lead with ideas like this which not only benefit the consumer, but also allow people the freedom and ease to come into town, park their car for free for a period of time and not have to worry about cost or the clampers.”
Cllr O’Flynn believes his motion would not just benefit the local economy but inspire retailers to take further initiative to boost their own business in a way that is cost effective and fair to consumers.
Having met with leading members of the Cork business community in the past number of months, Cllr O’Flynn has found that Saturday trading in the city is at an all time low.
“With centres like Mahon point, Blackpool, Douglas and Wilton Shopping Centre with free parking all day the incentive is for consumers to go to these destinations and shop at their leisure. If we in the city can allow them the two free hours parking, we give them a greater incentive to return to the city centre and not to worry about having to pay high car park fees.”
Cllr O’Flynn stated his belief that in particular this would be a huge boost to the faltering Saturday trade in the city.
Great to see this motion appearing again!!! I should have copyrighted it!
Ken and Keran, despite all the new buildings and the money spent on street works, Cork City is raipidly beginning to resemble a dump. Go into the Grand Parade, which used to be a fine street; now it is a mess with several derilcy looking buildings, acres of advertising signs and banners and shher dirt. Look at the ftont of the Grand Parade Library – one section of it has been caked with dirty black grease for years !
I dont mind buskers at all, but blaring amplifiers at different point along Patrick Street ? And what about tall the worthy sounding statements about banning alcohol drinking on the streets a few years ago ? Seems to me drinking on the street is as bad as ever. No wonder people are opting for the clean attractive and safe environments of the urban shopping centres.
And guys , Councillors share a part of the responsibility for this. Maybe, just maybe, if more Councillors spent their weekends in Cork as opposed to heading off on junkets, the situation would be different.
Hi Gerry,
I totally agree with you on the issues you raise.
Dereliction is an issue I have been active on – I think the fine system for owners of derelict buildings is very very weak. We have buildings in Cork that are falling onto the streets and not been properly secured. The Library’s facade is another issue that I raised only yesterday at a functional meeting. It is been examined to remove the dirt and grime. As for the drinking on ths street, that annoys me so much and I have contacted the Chief Superintendent in Anglesea Street to move more agressively on the open air drinking. I plan to raise it again next Monday at the joint policing forum. As for the junkets, I don’t partake in any of them and have been outvoted on the issue. Your issues are been acted upon but it’s just so hard at times to get cross-party support to resolve issues adequately.
As ever thanks again for reply and info. I suppose in fairness, I should have pointed out that there are a small number of Councillors who have consistently voted against junkets year in and year out..
The three main parties despite all thier protests about being different with different policies all agree on the matter of expnses and junkets. Which raises the question as to whether, apart from independents, there is any real political choice in Ireland. The question of the Lord mayor’s office and the way it is divided up amongst them and the manner they have made it Irelands highest paid Mayor or Lord Mayor’s office in the country is disgraceful.
Hi Gerry,
I think there is always political choice. If people aren’t happy with their politicans, they should be getting an earful every day on the phone and email, in their constituency and be made accountable especially in the current crisis. Make their political lives unbearable especially when it comes to junkets and large scale expenses. I personally feel the constituents of the three main parties in Council if they are interested in getting rid of local government conferences need to react. There is no reaction so far and hence the only thing standing in their way is a minority vote. That’s democracy I’m afraid. The other aspect is well is that conferences are a ‘cottage industry’. Apart from politicians, the organisers are making money from them. This month I got a list of 17 conferences I could go to between now and February. Irish society seems to be not active enough at the moment in sending a message to local and national government on these issues. I’m also conscious at the moment I’m writing on a FF Cllr press release on this site. I have no doubt Ken is reading this and will have something to say on the matter?!
Hi Kieran,
One of the very small consolations I have is that I never voted for a bertie ahern FF Gov !
As you probably remember, i spent a good deal of time trying to encourage TDs and Councillors to do something abut the enormous volume of illegal advertising signs and the now increasing volume of advertising trailers. It was a complete waste of time – the situation is worse now than ever. What i cant understand is how after all the foreign junkets, irish Councillors can bear to see the ugliness and filt that they, Tds and all senior City and County officials have allowed.From what I can see, the vast majority of irish politicians are interested only in themselves . Worst still, the younger generation of politicians apopear to be every bit as bad as the older generation. Stand as a general election candidate and i will give you a vote but I wonder if I will bother, for the first time in life, vote for anybody else.