6 October
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Labour Party Candidate for Cork South Central, Cllr Laura Harmon has said that more funding of personnel and resources to ensure pedestrian safety is needed to fast-track pedestrian crossings right across Cork City and County.
File photo of a new crossing in Bandon, Co Cork from 2022.
Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
“We cannot continue to put on the long finger pedestrian safety – we need to increase resources from central to local government. There are crossings on the books that won’t get started until 2026 and new crossings which must be installed. Pedestrian safety must be prioritised across Cork.
“We need to frontload the designs and the surveys to bring as many new crossings to fruition. It’s absolutely no good to a parent who wants their child to walk to school but needs a safe crossing to be told wait another 2 or 3 years. That child could be graduated and long gone but the fear of an accident is present that entire time. I and my Labour colleagues are concerned about the lack of delivery of crossings in the city and the key to that problem is extra resources from the NTA and the Department of Transport.”
Cllr Harmon confirmed that she has sought the additional resources, through the Labour Parliamentary team in Dáil Éireann, from the Minister for Transport.