Laois council edges towards solution to chaotic Slieve Bloom car parking

A plan to build a new car park in the Slieve Blooms to deal with chronic, chaotic and dangerous parking problems at Glenbarrow has edged closer to becoming a reality.

The latest update in the long process was delivered to county councillors at a meeting with officials after a motion was tabled on the matter by Cllr Seamus McDonald of Fianna Fáil.

Edmond Kenny, District Engineer, replied in writing.

“The Council has engaged with the owner of lands immediately beside the existing car park at Glenbarrow and are in the process of signing a long term lease agreement for the site that will allow the council to commence construction. It is expected that the lease will be signed in the coming weeks and the council will be in a position to commence works in early summer 2023,” he said.

The Engineer provided further details to the Leinster Express / Laois Live. He said the contract to carry out the work would be awarded subject to the lease agreement being put in place. 

Until the agreement has been finalised with the landowner, he said he could not confirm the terms relating to the length of the lease. He added that it’s envisaged that 74 spaces will be provided on the new site with the anticipated cost of constructing the new car park would be €75,000.

Cllr McDonald welcomed the update given at the Borris-in-Ossory Municipal District meeting. He was convinced that the project would solve problems.

“I will certainly resolve the long-standing issue, especially at weekends when thousands of people visit,” he said.

His Fianna Fáil colleague Cllr Paddy Bracken also welcomed the progress which will mean a lot to residents.

“It will alleviate the problems, especially for people living in the area who have had to endure difficulties with the traffic and obstructions to their entrances,” he said.

The process of adding more car park spaces at the beauty spot has involved a lot of twists and turns but money does not seem to have been the obstacle.

Councillors were told as far back as 2018 that money had been secured for construction of an additional car park. In 2021, under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme Measure 2, €112,518 was approved for the development of an overflow car-park at the site near Rosenallis to improve accessibility to the mountains.

Environmental studies have had to be carried out to convince national agencies that it would not cause damage to the conservation area of the Slieve Blooms. Coillte has also been involved in the process.

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While all of this was being addressed residents and emergency services were impacted. Residents living in the area have gone public to plead with people not to cause obstruction - a problem that was acute during Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Emergency services have also had problems reaching people injured at the falls. Gardaí have also had to intervene and closed roads on a number of occasions due to the severity of the issues.