Endless opportunities for Fermoy

Dear Editor, As regards the headline camper’s ‘vloggers ill-timed visit to Fermoy’ and new spaces provided, I can tell you that no hope in hell would I chance using these spaces, they’re a death trap and an accident just waiting to happen. I doubt very much that many will avail of the provided spaces because of the dangers associated with where they are sited.

Also, the motorhome and campervans would be a sitting duck for opportunists to break into them, parked unattended at the side of a busy road.

The provision of allotted spaces for motorhome and campervan tourists in Fermoy is greatly appreciated but the sites decided on by the council are not.

Also, no signage of any description was put in place for the Kevin Barry Hill site to direct motorhome enthusiasts or alert them to the fact that parking bays were available as they passed through the town, hence they drove on through and did not stop, causing lost revenue for the businesses of the town; also, as it was not widely known about parking on Kevin Barry Hill, most motorhome and campervan enthusiasts never even came off the motorway, thus avoiding Fermoy town completely as they travelled to the next destination where it was known there was a serviced Aire facility available.

Fermoy has so much to offer visitors, but it has never been availed of. There are lovely walks on Barnane and also at Corrin through the woods up to the Cross, where the views over Fermoy and the countryside are stunning. The river would be a huge attraction for visitors who would avail of boat tours along its majestic waters, it would attract photographers, bird watchers, canoeists, kayakers interested in going to see the Viaduct from its fame in the film ‘The Blue Max’ when a plane flew underneath it and starred George Peppard. There is the swimming pool which would attract a lot of people to use it.

The opportunities for Fermoy to prosper are endless, so many attractions and nothing being taken advantage of. The ideal location to put a serviced Aire in Fermoy is the Mill Island Car Park smack bang in the centre of the town close to all the different businesses that would be availed of by the visiting camping enthusiasts. The Garda barracks is close by which would put visitors at ease, for both safety and security reasons.

There is a €100k grant available which can be applied for by the councils to put facilities in place to attract the massive motorhome tourism to their areas - Dungarvan being a case in point for their recently opened serviced Aire.

Fermoy has the exact location to utilise such an Aire as in The Mill Island Car Park it has more than enough attractions to entice motorhome tourism to the town in a big way and because of what Fermoy has to offer, tourists would stay for a few days, which in turn means more money being spent in to the local economy, before they move to the next location that has Aire type facilities to offer. All it takes for Fermoy to gain from the massive spending power from motorhome and campervan tourists is the foresight and the will to capture some of that spending power.

The only reason motorhome and campervan tourists from the continent and the UK do not come here is because they know there are very little facilities available to them to avail of.

The potential to entice some of that massive business into our country is there with up to 30 ferries a week now coming into Rosslare Harbour alone. All that is required to capture that potential business is to have proper council controlled serviced Aire facilities in place.

James Lane, Pike Road,

Fermoy.