Traders pay for City Hall’s tunnel vision
We have put up all year with city streets that have come to resemble a war zone.
This has had a dramatic effect on all city traders, but the work was necessary.
I run a retail business in Cork, so I know what I am talking about.
There has been no compensation for the dramatic fall in trade.
Now they close Lower Glanmire Road from November 13 to 30, which leaves no access to the city from the east.
They advise south-bound traffic to use the tunnel.
Are they not aware that even before the closure of Lower Glanmire Road, coming from the east there is a tail-back of about half a mile and sometimes up to a mile waiting to get into the Jack Lynch Tunnel between 7.15am and 8.30am?
The tailback on the Dublin Road is as far as the eye can see.
Adding all the traffic that used to take Lower Glanmire Road to the already chaotic situation at the tunnel does not make any sense.
The only beneficiaries of the closure will be the towns of Midleton, Fermoy, Dungarvan and Youghal.
No-one is going to come from the east to shop in Cork for Christmas with all the chaos.
The last fortnight in November is the most important time of the year for sales and we are being denied it by a corporation which is intent on closing businesses.
They sit in their cushy offices and are oblivious to what is happening in the real world.
They will be quick to increase rates, service charges, etc., and to line their pockets with benchmarking awards but who pays?
The hard-pressed retailer, of course.
RD Callaghan,
Pinehurst,
Golf Links Road,
Youghal,
Co Cork.
