Cork city motorists could face a 30km/h (18.64mph) speed limit before next Christmas. Fears have been expressed that shoppers will stay away from the city centre in droves as a result. Cork Business Association (CBA) chief executive Donal Healy, said his 200 members "would have huge concern that shoppers could be driven out" of the city centre. "Are the council piggy backing the Dublin City Council plan? We don't have any serious traffic problems in Cork."

Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Dara Murphy is in favour of the plan. "The plan for 30km/h speed limits is limited in Cork. In Dublin, they imposed the limits on far too big an area including quays which have bus and taxi lanes. This will not be the situation in Cork," he said.

Ian Winning, a senior executive engineer in Cork City Council's traffic division, said the lower speed limit was being proposed for a large part of the central island area. "It will include Patrick Street and Oliver Plunkett Street and all existing side streets off them," he stated. 



Mr Winning said that he didn't yet know if South Mall or Grand Parade would be included in the plan. "We want to promote pedestrianisation and cycling in the city centre. It is consistent with the Pedestrian Priority Zone plan and regarded as being very beneficial for pedestrians and cyclists."

"The proposal is being put together by the traffic department and we're consulting with the gardai and other agencies at the moment. We will be consulting with other stakeholders like the CBA. It will then be put forward for approval by city councillors and hopefully we can implement it before the run-up to the Christmas period," he said.

Shoppers

The business association is insisting the city's ratepayers should be consulted. "We should be trying to get shoppers into our city. We have a great product here. The Lonely Planet guide showed that," according to Mr Healy. "No shoppers are bicyclists. Cork is a hilly city, unlike Dublin, say. We have already lost a lot of on-street parking. We want more park and rides, like the one running successfully from the Black Ash site and we need them soon," Mr Healy said.

He said the business association had put a number of proposals to city council to make it easier for shoppers to come into Cork. Studies in Cork and other cities had found that shoppers needed to park for an average of 2.5 hours to carry out their business, Mr Healy stated. "At the same time we are losing on-street parking," he pointed out.