December 2023
Hi, there! — Welcome to the twenty-first edition of my monthly newsletter to keep you up to date on my work for Cork City North East.
This month we have motions on the managing of HGV access and pedestrian crossings in Glanmire, parking on Wellington Road, and the issuing of parking tickets in English and Irish, as well as questions about illegal parking on MacCurtain Street
I’ve also included updates on the city’s new bus network, the re-opening of MacCurtain Street, and the modernising of religious practices during meetings of Cork City Council.
If there is anything you want to get in touch with me about, or to share your thoughts and feedback on an issue in the ward, please feel welcome to email me any time at oliver.moran@greenparty.ie.
Please also share this newsletter with your neighbours and friends in the ward.
Many thanks!
Oliver
p.s. You can use this link to easily share this newsletter ... oliver.ie/newsletter
Motions and notions
Every month, each councillor can submit up to four motions to Cork City Council and ask two formal questions of the Chief Executive. One of these questions is asked at the Local Area Committee and must be about local operational matters.
Before the deadline each month, I meet with my local group, the Cork City North Greens, and we agree motions and questions for the month ahead. We call this our “motions and notions” meeting :-)
If you have ideas or suggestions for a motion, or have a question you want asked, just let me know!
Or join the Cork City North Greens ... my.greenparty.ie
Questions
“To ask the Chief Executive if there is anything preventing parking tickets being issued for vehicles parked on paving next to double yellow lines on MacCurtain Street; and the number of tickets that have been issued for illegal parking on MacCurtain Street, broken down by category, since the revised street layout was formally opened on 25 November, 2023?”
There will be no meeting of the Local Area Committee this month, owing to the way that Christmas falls.
Motions
“That Cork City Council will put in place a HGV access plan for Glanmire, restricting routes, movements and/or times of access for HGVs in the area; and which will consider the historic nature of the road network, including Church Hill, Glanmire Bridge and Riverstown Bridge, and the dominantly commuter-pattern of traffic in the area.”
“That Cork City Council will extend the hours and days of on-street parking restrictions on Wellington Road to include evenings and Sundays, in order to prioritise parking for residents.”
“That Cork City Council will install a push-button pedestrian crossing at the L3010 junction with Marwood in Glanmire; and in the meantime put in place immediate works, including the lining of the carriageway with crossing markings and the placing of pedestrian crossing signs at the existing dipped and tactile kerbing.”
“That Cork City Council will issue parking tickets in both the English and Irish languages.”
In addition, at Monday’s meeting of Cork City Council I proposed the following urgent motion:
“That, in light of the failure of the United Nations Security Council to reach agreement in calling for a ceasefire and release of hostages, Cork City Council will write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs requesting that Ireland refers the attacks by Hamas of 7 October and the Israeli attacks on Gaza since then to the International Criminal Court for urgent investigation and the issuing of arrest warrants as necessary to prevent the continuing commission of crimes.”
While a majority (14 in favour, 13 against, 1 abstention) of councillors voted in favour of debating this motion on Monday, a two-thirds majority was needed and so this motion wasn’t accepted on the night.
What’s happening?
Update on new city bus network
Work is continuing on the roll-out of a new city bus network as part of BusConnects Cork. Disappointingly, I was informed this month that this has been delayed by about six months. This is due to problems in recruiting drivers and mechanics and to allow a new depot to be built in Tivoli.
The updated planned roll out date for the new city services is about 12 months from now.
The rollout will be in phases over the course of months. The extended 208 to Glanmire and a new service to the Banduff Road are expected to be among the first phase of new routes rolled out.
Among the work still on-going are tweaks to increase the number of services to Colmcille Avenue.
There are also challenges for bus movements on sections of Church Hill in Glanmire, where the extended 208 is planned to run. However, the BusConnects Cork team are confident measures can be put in place for this.
This month, I compiled an analysis of the best and worse bus routes in the city. Only six of the city’s 25 bus routes meet the minimum performance standards set out by the National Transport Authority.
Among these, the 214 serving Glanmire and the Lower Glanmire Road was among the worst, being late 40% of the time. A perverse effect this has on passengers is that bus drivers are told to skip stops, and leave people waiting, as they hurry to catch up on their schedule.
While the 214 may be among the worst, this is a problem that exists across the whole network.
Public transport is caught up in ever growing numbers of private cars. These typically have only one passenger, so a queue of 20 cars at a junction can block the way for a bus with twice that number of passengers — and this happens at every turn along its route.
The statistics underline the importance of ensuring BusConnects Cork is delivered for the city, including proposals for public transport priority measures and quicker boarding times.
MacCurtain Street is reborn
Last month, the newly updated MacCurtain Street re-opened after a long period of development. The revised plans have been celebrated by local businesses, who worked closely with Cork City Council on the plans.
Unfortunately, the area continues to be affected by illegal parking, even after the opening. Officials have told me that in the two weeks since the street re-opened almost 100 parking tickets have been issued in the area.
It’s obvious to traders and residents in the area that even more tickets need to be issued.
During the month, I worked with officials on resolving problems that prevented tickets being issued for vehicles parked in the area. It was confirmed to be on Monday that this has now been resolved.
Officials have also confirmed to me that MacCurtain Street will come under the new pilot of out-of-hours patrols by traffic wardens. This pilot is funded through additional budget I negotiated for 2024.
The pilot will allow for a trial of traffic wardens patrolling on two evenings a week for ten weeks as well as ten Sundays in the year. Until now, traffic wardens finished at 6:30pm, which left gardaí to enforce illegal parking at bus stops and footpaths.
The pilot will be assessed in about six months time with a view to expanding out-of-hours parking enforcement in 2025. Gardaí have also committed to patrol illegal parking as well and have issued fines to enforce one-way streets, like York Street.
There are five off-street car parks in the area with hourly rates the same or better than on-street parking and with special daytime, evening and overnight rates.
In addition, a new nighttime taxi rank will be located outside the laundrette and Café Spresso on MacCurtain Street over the coming weeks.
Modernising the city council’s own rules
Ahead of this month’s meeting of Cork City Council, I wrote to the Lord Mayor about the practice of the holding of prayer during meetings. The Standing Orders for ordinary meetings is that they must begin with a prayer, which all councillors rise for.
At the last census in 2022, 66,222 residents of the city identified as being non-Christian or having no religion in the 2022 census. This is 30% of all residents of the city.
There is no prohibition in law on prayer in the workplace. However, it is illegal to require someone to participate in prayer — and I feel this practice is a hangover from another era.
Other city councils in Dublin, Limerick and Galway have long put aside beginning meetings with a prayer, but Cork still continues the practice.
In the letter, I let the Lord Mayor know that I would remain seated during the prayer, not in “protest”, but reflecting the realities of workplaces across a diverse city in 2023.
On the evening, five other councillors joined me in remaining seated, while respecting the rights of others who wished to pray to do so.
A review of Standing Orders is underway and a workshop between councillors is planned for January. I have requested that the practice of continuing the prayer, as well as other more practical matters, will be further considered then.
In the news…
Council commits to new signs for St Luke’s community garden
Green Party councillor Oliver Moran had penned a motion calling on Cork City Council to improve the entrance to the garden from the Ballyhooly Road.
Echo, Sunday, 3 December
Busking by-laws: What do the artists think?
The proposed busking by-laws need to be properly thought through, says Oliver Moran, Green Party councillor for Cork City North East.
Echo, Wednesday, 15 November
Upper Glanmire pedestrian safety scheme works to begin
Progress on the Upper Glanmire Pedestrian Safety Scheme was also welcomed by Green Party councillor Oliver Moran.
Echo, Monday, 13 November
Keep in touch
Thanks for reading! Please feel welcome to share this newsletter and invite other people you know to subscribe — and, if you can, please consider making a donation to my 2024 re-election campaign.
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Have a great month!