Houses and parking are top priorities for new chairman
HOUSING and parking will be priority issues for Cllr Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald who has just stepped into his new role as chairman of the Corca Dhuibhne / Castleisland Municipal District for the next year.
Under an inter-party agreement drawn up following the last local elections, three Fianna Fáil councillors and two Fine Gael will each hold the title of municipal district chairman over the five-year lifespan of the current municipal district. For the past year Dingle Cllr Breandán Fitzgerald (FF) was in the chairman’s seat and at the municipal district’s AGM, held last Thursday in Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, he handed over the chain of office to his Fine Gael namesake from Glens.
Cosaí said his priorities during his term in office include the provision of additional parking in Dingle. Seeing the new Green Street car park through to completion is part of this, but he is also working towards the development of a new car park at the back of Main Street and this would have the added benefit of providing access to the centre of town from the new relief road.
Cosaí would also like to see progress on the provision of additional car parking for hill walkers at Faha as well as the development of a Mount Brandon Base Camp at Cloghane. Initial work on the base camp project has been carried out by Comharchumann Forbartha an Leith Triúigh but more will need to be done to see the project through to completion. Cosaí is keen to see further progress on the development of hillwalking facilites by way of opening a looped greenway walking route between Dingle and Cloghane.
The completion of a project to turn Dingle town park into a sports/recreation facility, the development of an Irish language centre in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh and progress on the old Dingle Hospital project, which is being spearheaded by the Dingle Hub and Údarás na Gaeltachta, are also on Cosaí’s list. However he is well aware that “we’re in uncertain times, everything is up in the air and you don’t know what kind of funding will be available for anything at the end of the coronavirus emergency”.