Former Lord Mayor and current Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has called on Cork City Council’s roads section for an audit of road safety needs surrounding schools in Douglas. There has been much discussion in recent months at the south east local area meeting between local Councillors and the local roads engineers on a future pedestrian safety plan for Douglas Road. In particular the footpaths and lack of footpaths around Eglantine National School have been the subject of much discussion.

Cllr McCarthy noted; “I have received much correspondence from parents asking for safer footpaths on Douglas Road and in Eglantine Park for students to walk on and for a safer crossing from Go Go’s restaurant section across into Browningstown. I continue to call upon the Council to address the dangers connected with this crossing and to address how much of a blind spot it is and the need to create safety mechanisms to slow down traffic”.

“The discussions so far at City Council level have noted that any new wider footpaths on Douglas Road will come as part of the National Transport Authority’s Bus Connects corridor work on Douglas Road. Roll out for this project is still 2-3 years away. The corridor must still go through An Bord Pleanála for approval. The Eglantine Park piece can be pursued through the National Safe Routes to Schools pedestrian safety programme. I’d ask the school and its Board of Management to keep pursuing that route. It’s an easier way for all stakeholders to assemble the funding needed for design and construction of any safety measures. Whether or which, I’ll keep my own pressure on the need to deliver pedestrian safety measures. There is also a need to make sure a full complement of Lollypop persons are also available to our local schools. They are a very important addition to the safety around our schools”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.