Town looks to the reopening of businesses

Commenting on the present situation regarding the coved-19 emergency arrangements, Cllr. Ian Doyle, the present Mayor of County Cork said that this week Cork County Council is concentrating on a plan to help our towns prepare for gradually getting back to work as we come out of the current lockdown.

“This will involve a whole range of measures to help with Main Street shopping, while adhering to the required social distancing regulations, such as looking at footpath widths, parking arrangements and deep cleaning of public areas.” With regard to Charleville Chamber he said, “It is important that we set up the local Chamber as soon as possible, as they can have a positive input into recovery plans locally.”

Meanwhile, many local people are presently clearing out attics and rooms resulting in the accumulation of various items of refuse and rubbish, and to dispose of this safely, they are forced to take this over the border to the nearest civic amenity centre in the area run by a private company for Limerick County Council in Kilmallock five miles away.

This has proved to be difficult due to the travel limitations, and some people have been stopped and turned back by Gardai, who were implementing the travel restrictions, as indeed they should. The nearest Cork County Council bring site to Charleville is in Kanturk, which is eighteen miles west of Charleville and again this is not feasible travel-wise.

So, this leaves local people with a dilemma, what to do with their rubbish? Is it little wonder that there is dumping on country roads around the town when there is no facility provided by the authorities for the safe disposal of such items. When questioned about this situation Cllr Doyle said, “There is no bring site in Charleville as is the case also in the Fermoy Municipal District. However, now that Charleville is in a different Municipal District (Kanturk), this situation may be reviewed, and possibly rectified in the future.”

On the position of the M20 Motorway from Limerick to Cork proceeding which would directly affect Charleville town, should Fianna Fail go into coalition with Fine Gael and the Green Party, especially with the latter’s opposition to emissions, Cllr Doyle said he was not sure. “There is a commitment to proceed with same, which is now at the design stage, and we have not been notified of any change,” he said.