City council car park to be privatised

ONE of Cork city’s biggest publicly owned multi-storey car parks is to be privatised.

City manager Tim Lucey told city councillors on Monday night that the management of the city council-owned and managed Kyrl’s Quay car park will be outsourced on a pilot basis for a nine-month trial period.

He said city management have no other option because of the Government’s embargo on the recruitment of staff.

But Mr Lucey said the city council will continue to set the parking charges at the 339-space facility during the pilot phase and the subsequent fully out-sourced period.

He said the decision to outsource is in response to recent and forthcoming retirements of car park staff employed by the city council.

Management, he said, looked at the idea of transferring staff from other areas of the city council to work in the car park.

But due to the public service recruitment ban, that idea was not viable, and was ruled out.

He also revealed certain desks in virtually all of the council’s directorates and departments are vacant because of the recruitment ban.

He said staff were consulted and the decision to outsource the management of the car park has now been made. It is an executive function and does not require the backing of councillors.

During the pilot phase, the city council plans to advertise an open tender for experienced car park contractors to operate and manage the car park for a defined period.

“It is anticipated that significant cost savings will accrue to Cork City Council from this proposal,” Mr Lucey said.

It was not clear last night when the car park will be privatised.

QPark is the city’s biggest private car park operator and is considered most likely to take over the management of the Kyrl’s Quay car park.

The company already manages four multi-storey car parks in around the city centre — at Carroll’s Quay (370 spaces), next to City Hall (395 spaces), the St Finbarr’s car park on Wandesford Quay (352 spaces) and the Grand Parade car park (352 spaces).

Meanwhile, Cllrs Seán Martin and Terry Shannon called on Mr Lucey to make parking available along Cook Street and Princes Street, which are in a pedestrianised zone, for the next two or three weeks.

Mr Shannon said it would help people collect bulky goods from shops in the area.