Cork religious community claims cycle lane will cause 'huge health and safety problems' for parishioners

Fr John Fitzgerald, the director of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, said the proposed cycle path route would be an unfair intrusion on elderly residents of the monastery’s infirmary

The planned two-way cycle lane is included in plans published by the National Transport Authority and will skirt the car park of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on Western Road. File picture: Eddie O'Hare

A religious community says a planned cycle lane running through its grounds as part of the Luas Cork project will adversely affect its elderly residents, while posing a health and safety risk to its parishioners.

The two-way cycle lane is included in plans published by the National Transport Authority (NTA), initially proposed as part of BusConnects, and now as part of the preferred route for Luas Cork.