Councillors calling for green spaces to be replaced with car parks are voting for “more flooding”, an environmentalist has argued. 

Concerns have been raised that estates in the town of Carrigaline, just south of Cork City, have become congested with far too many motorists jostling for scarce parking spaces. 

On Lunchtime Live, Fianna Fáil Councillor Patrick Donovan said people have a “lot of concerns” about the parking and said the problem is because so many young adults now live with their parents. 

 “In these older estates, where we had driveways that were built for one or two cars, now have anywhere up to five cars because their children are still living at home and they're struggling to get on the property ladder,” he said. 

“I suppose it's having a knock on effect in these estates because the children are parking alongside the green and it's not just one house, it could be multiples into one estate.”

Cllr Donovan said he hopes to see a pilot removal of certain green spaces, adding that the issue has become one of health and safety. 

“It's making it dangerous for children who may be running in between them,” he said. 

“But also, more importantly, it's becoming a danger for emergency vehicles. 

“I know a number of residents in some estates in Carrigaline have contacted me with concerns that if, in the event of an emergency, that fire brigade or an ambulance may not actually be able to get to people that need them or a house on fire. 

“If we could just create more space by removing some of the green area - not all - it would make a huge difference in the older estates.”

Flooding concerns

Also on the programme, John Gibbons, author of The Lie Of The Land: A Game Plan For Ireland In The Climate Crisis, said Ireland’s towns and cities need more green spaces, not fewer. 

“One of the many factors driving the more extreme flooding events that we're getting is the loss of permeable surface area,” he explained. 

“In other words, when the rain comes down, instead of being absorbed into soft surfaces, it's bouncing off concrete, it's bouncing off tarmac.

“And it's incredible in an era - especially the last five or six weeks - that we've had to have a Fianna Fáil councillor come on the radio and say, ‘What we need to do down here is to pave over more of our permeable areas.’

“What he's really voting for there is more flooding.”

Main image: Flooding in Skibereen. Picture by: Andy Gibson/Alamy Live News