A popular seating area in Kilkenny city is causing contention among some traders.
The benches at the Market Yard were installed during the Summer to allow outdoor dining during the pandemic.
The provision has been welcomed by many while the current restrictions remain in place for local restaurants and cafes.
But Cllr David Fitzgerald says other outlets have been impacted by the loss of parking spaces that were replaced by the seating, telling KCLR “The seating area in the Market Yard of the city has been a blessing for the coffee and food and hospitality businesses in that area, in Kieran Street in particular, but it has come at a cost to some other businesses who are heavily reliant on parking and people coming to town to spend their money and they’ve raised concerns that the loss of parking is adversely affected their business”.
The subject matter was raised at the most recent meeting of Kilkenny City Municipal District.
And Cllr Fitzgerald says the issue needs to be reexamined after the pandemic noting “We need to come up with a long term plan once the Covid restrictions are lifted to ensure that the seating and parking sit side-by-side so that we’ve parking for bikes, for motorbikes and also that we have proper seating facilities for the public in that area”.
He adds “We agreed at the meeting that we would work on a long-term plan that tries to revision that civic space and address some of the concerns that have been raised with myself & other councillors”.
