Call to act as 21% of city’s shops lie empty

Business leaders in Cork are seeking an emergency summit with the city manager to tackle the biggest number of shop closures in living memory.

The Cork Business Association has carried out a survey which shows 21% of city centre shops were now lying idle.

Tom Durkin, the group’s president, said “dramatic changes” were needed to reverse this disturbing trend.

“The fact that the number of businesses has fallen so much is incredible. We are the second city in Ireland and urgent action is needed to redress this,” he said.

Mr Durkin outlined the scale of the problem by highlighting the number of vacant premises in some of the city centre’s most prestigious shopping areas.

“There are 13 unoccupied premises in Grand Parade, a further 13 in Patrick St, 17 in Washington St, and 16 in South Mall,” he said.

“I have been working in the English Market for the last 27 years and I have never seen so many shops closed.”

Mr Durkin said high parking charges imposed by the council are driving shoppers out to the suburbs.

“The city council pulled in around €4.4m from parking charges last year. Shoppers are being crucified by these charges. We believe they should be dropped for a period of time which would allow more businesses to start up. The more businesses that take over vacant properties the better. We believe the city council would easily make back €4.4m, and possibly more, with the rates it would bring in from new businesses.”

He said that on most days the top two floors of the multistorey car park at Paul St were empty. “You won’t see too many empty spaces at the shopping centres in Mahon, Blackpool, or Wilton where there is free parking,” he said.

“Ideally, the city council should offer free parking until the city centre is rejuvenated and then when it reintroduces the charges it should install parking meters like most other cities around Europe have.”

The association is also proposing that public transport be improved to make it easier for shoppers to access the city centre.

“We want to see an orbital bus route which would make stops in Parnell Place, Patrick St, Grand Parade, etc and which would connect directly with the park and rides. It wouldn’t cost a fortune to run and a minimal charge could be imposed on passengers,” Mr Durkin said.

“It wouldn’t just work for shoppers but for tourists and employees in the city centre as well. It’s a no-brainer.”