Clarity needed on closure of Cobh beach access, says Green Party

The Green Party in Cork has called on Cork County Council to clarify the reasons for closing the gate to the Batteries Beach area from the Titanic Memorial Garden in Cobh. The party says the closure has raised suspicions and caused upset among local people.

Cork County Council have recently installed a locked gate at the old archway leading to the stone steps down to the strand. The steps are in disrepair and the path is overgrown, making it unsafe. However, the Green Party says local people want a timeline for its reopening.

Speaking today, the party’s representative in Cobh, Susan Lanigan, said:

“I appreciate the need for guaranteeing safety and agree that the Batteries path is currently dangerously unfit for purpose. But this closure has generated local upset as many families in Cobh had a tradition of learning to swim there as children, or of walking to Cuskinny at low tide. And, when I see recent articles about houses for sale on the foreshore enthusiastically lauding a ‘virtually private beach’, I worry about what is happening with a public right of way and whose interests this is serving.”

“I think reassurance on this point from the county council and Cobh Municipal District, perhaps in the form of a public notice and a commitment to restoration when funds are available, would go a long way towards assuaging local people’s anxiety on this matter.”