Parking problems ‘could spark another tragedy at beach’

A warning was given yesterday of another potential tragedy on a popular Blue Flag beach where two nuns drowned while swimming last week.

A shortage of off-beach parking facilities at Inch, Co Kerry, is forcing cars onto the beach, and buses and other large vehicles to park on the main road, leading to a chaotic situation on busy summer days.

Inch Community Council has called on local landowners to consider selling, or leasing land for parking to Kerry County Council.

Local councillor Michael O’Shea (FF) yesterday said he would be taking up local people’s requests and recalled the council had almost secured a deal with a landowner four or five years ago, but it fell through at the last minute.

Parking on the beach is permitted for a distance of 1km on the left side of the entrance but no parking is allowed on the right side. However, motorists continue to park there.

“Parking facilities are totally inadequate — there’s a small car park just over the beach, but it can only accommodate 80 to 100 cars and fills up very quickly,” said Cllr O’Shea.

“I’ll be asking the council to seek further land. It’s a matter of absolute necessity.”

Some buses stopping at the beach have to park and drop off their tourist passengers on the roadside on the main Killarney-Dingle route which Mr O’Shea said was extremely dangerous.

“Some days, there are buses, campervans and cars on the side of the road and this causes bedlam at times and increases the risk of traffic accidents.

“All that is in addition to dangers posed by traffic on the beach itself. People fear a child or an adult will be knocked down and injured, or killed, some day,” he said.

“I’m appealing to any interested parties to go to the council if they have land for sale or leasing.”

Meanwhile, a county council spokesman said there was an added difficulty in providing parking spaces because Inch was in a Special Area of Conservation. There could be significant difficulties in getting permission to build a car park in such a location, he pointed out.

The community council has also called for the provision of a children’s playground and the upgrading of public toilets at Inch.