Cork City Council staff enjoy free city parking

Cork City Council staff have been availing of 120 free parking spaces on a first-come-first-served basis at Navigation House on Albert Quay since the sale of the former council property to development firm O’Callaghan Properties in 2008.

A controversial condition of the €9.2m sale, which was criticised at the time by the Green Party, was that the council would continue to avail of the free parking on the two-acre site. However, the Irish Examiner has learnt that the council was told two weeks ago that it has to vacate the parking spaces by June 1 so that work can begin on a huge office block which recently received planning permission.

However, it emerged yesterday that the council has secured an extension of the arrangement until June 23.