Oil refinery villagers in Midleton fear major accident

Villagers close to the country’s main oil terminal want a plan, approved six years ago, to be implemented amid fears of a potential major accident.

A deputation from Whitegate near Midleton, brought their concerns to an East Cork Municipal District meeting. The village’s mayoral representative, Martin Murray, described the main street as “a dangerous, out of control, speed track” due to an alleged combination of speeding, heavy vehicles, haphazard parking and an increasing population.

Mayor Murray said over 300 trucks travel the route day and night, sharing the road with an increasing number of private and other commercial vehicles, even causing sleep deprivation for locals.

He said the village was “a crumbling mess of careless parking” with inadequate road markings contributing to indiscriminate parking which, in turn, endangered other road users, many of whom drive too quickly along the predominantly wide thoroughfare”.

The meeting heard the local supermarket was the hub of commercial and parking activity.

Mr Murray said the danger was compounded by oil tankers sometimes being “abandoned with the engine running” while drivers queued for coffee.

“I fear a major catastrophic accident with loss of life”, he warned.

Last year a Facebook questionnaire saw locals list an array of implementations they wanted in the area. They included road re-alignment, pothole repairs and resurfacing, clear parking lines and signage, traffic calming, a pedestrian crossing and various landscape works.

Most, if not all of these aspirations, would be met by the Whitegate Village Enhancement Plan, which Cork County Council presented in 2009, following a 15-year draft process.

Mr Murray criticised the county council for not investing in enhancements earlier, during economic prosperity.