You can't park there!

A resident of St Martin’s Estate in Cavan town raised concerns over cars parking in the estate on match days.

Sunday was a big day for club football and supporters came out in numbers at Kingspan Breffni Park to watch the senior championship semi finals.

While Ryan O’Hanlon himself has a massive interest in GAA, he is concerned for the safety and wellbeing of the residents in his estate, particularly the elderly. The residents were “livid” on Sunday when cars parked on the footpaths and on the road of their estate. It prompted Ryan to take some photographs to show how congested and inaccessible it became.

In an emergency situation, he fears that services would not be able to get through to assist somebody. Meanwhile, he also said the elderly are afraid to drive on the road at game time.

“There’s people with medical problems that are in constant fear during match days that, if something goes wrong, will the help arrive or will it be too late?

“All them cars parked will delay any help arriving and, in an emergency, time is everything,” Ryan told the Celt on Monday afternoon.

Living in the estate for the past 30 years, Ryan described it as “chaos” on Sunday.

“If you wanted to walk on the footpath, you were put onto the road. It is a two-way street, up and down, it became a one-way street.”

Those met with oncoming traffic in the estate were “in trouble” as there was “nowhere to pull in”.

“You had women with prams, you had a wheelchair user all on the road,” he continued.

“There’s certain times when there’s GAA matches on, there’s people of an older generation who will not leave their house. They’re afraid to get in their car because they’re afraid of getting caught halfway down the street and not have the confidence to reverse back up.”

Meanwhile he said some fear that, if they do leave, they “won’t get back into their house” afterwards. The thirty-year-old also said that housing estates “aren’t blessed” with “ample parking” in general, let alone on match days.

“It means you’re putting someone out,” he emphasised to motorists who choose to park there.

While the traffic had gone when Ryan spoke to the Celt on Monday, he raised the issue with a view to improving the situation for games in the future.

“Cavan County Board are constantly developing Kingspan Breffni Park, which is great. I’m a big GAA person,” he stated.

However he asked: “When was the last time they looked at upgrading their car parks?”

Ryan said he only saw about “two members” of An Garda Síochána on traffic duty at what he described as one of the “second biggest” weekends in Cavan club football.

“How are they going to control all them cars and direct them and divert them all the way down to where they are meant to be going?

“The resources aren’t being provided for match days like they used to be.”

Ryan feels both could do more. “There’s enough money being pumped into the GAA locally for them to provide people at the entrance to these estates to prevent their patrons from entering our estates. There are no rights for anyone to go up and just abandon their car in an estate.”

He believes the Road Traffic Act “covers all this” and should be enforced.

“You can’t put your car on a footpath, you can’t park it on a bend, that is going on as plain as day in the pictures,” he claims.

He also said cars were parked on a “double yellow line” on Sunday.

“The gardaí were present on the day, what are they doing about it?” he asked.

“Everyone sees it every day but nothing’s being done about it,” he claimed.

“This goes on every match day.”

The local Sinn Féin activist has noticed the issue is “always highlighted” while going door to door over the last couple of years.

Ryan further questioned the effectiveness of traffic management plans on match days between the county board and the Gardaí.

“For it to do it’s job, it wouldn’t be blocking up traffic and blocking people into their housing estates in my opinion.”

He also feels for the associations who try to keep the estate tidy, then cars come and “destroy all” on match day.

County board ‘aware’ of parking issues

A Cavan County Board spokesperson has said that they are “aware” of parking issues in the town on match day last Sunday “as we received the same photographs”.

“We have liased with the local gardaí in this regard and a strategy will be in place for upcoming matches,” the spokesperson stated.

They said they can “only deal with traffic issues” within the confines of the park, and “not on public roads”.

“We work closely with An Garda Síochána to ensure the safety of all patrons and indeed our neighbours in surroundings housing estates on match days.”

“Cavan County Board have 500 carparking places available at the Kingspan Breffni Complex, which is larger than that available to patrons at any comparable stadium locally or nationally,” they outlined.

An Garda Síochána have been contacted for comment.