24 August 2021
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
North Cork Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea has this week welcomed the update from Cork County Council that construction on the new fire station in Kanturk is to be completed by the end of next month. It is expected that the fire crew who are currently based in the old fire station in St. Theresa’s Place, Kanturk would begin their transfer across immediately afterwards.
Cork-based construction company HG Construction (IRL) Ltd were appointed by Cork County Council to construct the new state-of-the-art fire station in Kanturk in 2019. While construction was halted during most of 2020 & 2021 due to Covid-19, work resumed earlier in the summer and good progress has been made on the €1.5m new fire station.
Cllr John Paul O’Shea (FG)
Cllr O’Shea said “It is great to see this project now coming towards completion and I very much look forward to seeing our dedicated fire crew in Kanturk based from there. The current fire station is located in a very confined site, adjacent to a housing estate which is no longer fit for purpose. The new fire station will comprise of two new appliance bays, lobby, changing rooms, toilets, shower room, lecture/training room and associated ancillary buildings with drill yard, forecourt, parking facilities, landscaping and footpath realignment works.
The new fire station will serve the towns of Kanturk and Newmarket as well as many small villages in the vicinity. Currently the Kanturk Fire Brigade serves a population of 15,000 people and responds to about 110 incidents per year. Cllr. O’Shea recently spoke with the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government Peter Burke, TD updating him on the new facility and he looks forward to visiting it over the coming months. The construction of the new Fire Station is being funded by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Cllr O’Shea added “The fire station, when complete and operation will play a pivotal role in the town of Kanturk and will serve a large number of communities in the surrounding area. This new facility will also assist in encouraging new retained firefighters for Kanturk along with supporting our fantastic existing firefighters”.