More than 20,000 sign petition to save Cork’s Marina Market
The Marina Market is hosting Christmas markets and will host a live screening of The Late Late Toy Show on Friday. Picture: Dan Linehan
More than 20,000 signatures have been gathered in just a few days to save Cork’s Marina Market.
The online petition was launched in response to the controversial planning decision by Cork City Council last week to refuse an application from CPR Properties for retention of a change of use for the popular food emporium, which has been operating without planning since it opened in a warehouse in the city’s south docks during the pandemic.
The petition was set up by market customer, Charlie Clarke, from Kilcully, who said the issues should be discussed and resolved with the authorities to find a way forward. “We need to have this decision overturned immediately and allow the fabulous Marina Market to exist as it is,” he said.
"This is a recent attraction in the city and has proved to be a great success. It’s full of food and other offerings, it’s a large spacious unique place full of character and atmosphere."
The petition won’t change the planning decision, but it is a sign of the enormous public support for the market, its setting and its ethos.
In their decision last week, city planners said the infrastructure on Kennedy Quay is insufficient for the existing and proposed use which will generate increased pedestrian, cyclist and vehicle volumes on the quay over and above historical uses.
They said they believed the market would give rise to an increased risk of pedestrian and vehicular conflict on Kennedy Quay, which is a working port area, and could endanger public safety.
Sources familiar with the case said Kennedy Quay is a public road, and that the Port of Cork and others who work in the area, and who objected the grant of planning, have right of way over a certain section only, close to the waterfront.
The sources said the traffic management issues flagged by planners could have been dealt with by way of a condition attached to a grant of planning.
But they accepted that resolving the health and safety issues linked to the market’s location close to the Gouldings Chemicals compound on Centre Park Road – a designated COMAH (control of major accidents and hazards) site – will be difficult to resolve.
A Health and Safety Authority (HSA) letter in the planning file advises against the granting of planning for the market because if a major accident happened at Gouldings, it could lead to a serious danger to human health.
However, health and safety experts have said if the Gouldings site poses such a risk, then why are thousands of people allowed to walk down Centre Park Road for big matches or concerts at Live at the Marquee or in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
In a briefing to councillors on Tuesday, the city’s assistant chief executive, Brian Geaney, said the council cannot comment publicly on the matter now. He directed councillors to the planning file where the reasons for the planning refusal are spelled out.
He also said the applicant has four weeks within which to lodge an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against the council's decision. An appeal is expected. If it's lodged within a month, the appeals process could take up to a year.
In the meantime, the market continues to operate as normal, and without planning, Monday to Saturday. It is hosting Christmas markets and will host a live screening of The Late Late Toy Show on Friday.
- The petition can be found here
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