University of Limerick should build multi-storey car park, says councillor

A COUNCILLOR has suggested University of Limerick (UL) should build multi-storey car parks on campus to address illegal parking in estates around the college.

Fine Gael’s Peter Doyle made the comments after he supported a motion from Labour’s Elena Secas at this month’s metropolitan meeting.

She wants a taskforce set up to address the issue.

“UL should provide car parking facilities to students. They were given plenty of funds. They could have built high-rise car parks or lots of student residences. They chose to squander €8m of tax payers' money on purchasing Dunnes Stores in Sarsfield Street which, in my opinion, is a total eyesore,” said Cllr Doyle.

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A keen cyclist, he drew a comparison between the UL campus and the surrounding estates. On campus, he said: “They don’t tolerate cars parked all over the place. There are signs up threatening clamping. Then I cycle through the residential areas adjacent to UL, there are houses with seven students in semi-detached homes, the roads are all clogged up. We as councillors are left to address the problem.”

Sinn Fein councillor Ursula Gavan suggested parking is an issue across the city and asked Cllr Secas to widen her motion.

Cllr Secas refused and pointed out she feels the problems with parking around the college need to be tackled as a stand-alone issue.

“With the increasing number of students, staff and visitors, parking has become a major safety concern for local residents, leading to congestion, huge inconvenience, and huge frustration. Local residents find the parking situation hazardous and extremely dangerous. In the mornings, most junctions are blocked with cars on double yellow lines. Children attending the local primary school have to walk on the road and two weeks ago, the fire brigade had great difficulty entering the Milford Grange estate,” Cllr Secas said.

“According to local residents, the neighbourhood has become an overflow car park for UL and this is not what these estates were designed for,” she added.

As well as Cllr Doyle, Cllr Secas’s motion secured the backing of constituency colleague Joe Pond of Fianna Fail.

Social Democrats councillor Shane Hickey-O’Mara praised the City East member for her “mature” call for a taskforce.

He said bringing everyone round the table would stop the “scapegoating” of different groups.

In a written answer, Liam Browne, a senior executive engineer in the council’s roads department wrote there is already a community liaison group which includes representatives of the local authority, the gardai, UL and residents living in the estates around the college.

The group is tasked with seeking solutions to the parking issues.