Council in talks with Kilkenny City GAA club over student parking facility

Kilkenny County Council is in talks with Dicksboro GAA about using its car park as a drop-off and collection point for CBC Kilkenny students amid concerns over unauthorised parking in nearby housing estates.

Councillors raised concerns about the impact of student parking on local residents, arguing ‘it’s unfair’ at October’s sitting of the Kilkenny City Municipal District.

“We are engaging with Dicksboro GAA to see if there is a prospect of using their car park as a drop off and collection point,” Mr Cullen revealed.

“That would avoid parents having to drive further into the city which is associated with delays and congestion,” he added.

Mr Cullen is hopeful that forthcoming traffic calming measures will make it more suitable for CBC Kilkenny students to access the nearby school.

Earlier this year, the local authority secured funding for the project under the National Transport Authority’s Active Travel Programme to improve crossing facilities on the Tullaroan Road.

“Within a short enough timeframe, certainly after Christmas, there’ll be major benefits on the Tullaroan Road and hopefully we can get an agreement across the line to be able to avail of the set down facilities at Dicksboro. That’s a matter to be determined.”

The local engineer also acknowledged that similar issues apply at other city schools but practical enforcement is challenging.

“It (parking) can be an issue around schools at drop off and collection times,” Mr Cullen said, noting if estates are public roads the local authority can act but ‘it’s a little more complicated’ for newly established housing estates.

The update followed concerns raised by councillors over unauthorised car-parking by students in housing estates near Kilkenny City schools.

Raised by Cllr David FitzGerald, the Fine Gael councillor requested the council contact schools and asked them to warn students over parking in nearby estates, having received correspondence from residents near the CBC school site on the Dunningstown Road.

“It’s unfair on residents and it’s creating unnecessary tension in the community,” he added, stating, “I would ask the school to be pro-active and make their students aware that these estates are not available.”

Director of Services with Kilkenny County Council, Tim Butler acknowledged there are challenges with parking in the vicinity of the CBC.

“I know the Active Travel Team and Stan (Cullen) have been consulting extensively with the Vice-Principal there (at the CBC) with a view to minimising disruption. I know it’s going to be very difficult until some of the new routes are in place but certainly there has been quite good engagement.”

Cllr Eugene McGuinness told the meeting ‘hard measures’ were the only solution and there is still a road to travel to entice city students to leave their cat at home.

“This is a problem right through the city. Unfortunately, what we have now are young kids who are driving cars and are looking for car parking spaces.

“I met one parent who came to me a few weeks ago who has two cars in the house but they had bought a third for their student, living not to far away from here (County Hall) to get out to school. We can talk about the parking issues and parking problems all we like, but what hard measures can we put in place to prevent (illegal parking)?”

Meanwhile, Cllr Maria Dollard (Green Party) cited “poor driver behaviour” as a core part of the problem and “co-operation” is the only way forward.

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