Relief as school path opens

“It's the adults who are supposed to take on risk to protect children, not the other way around.”

Those were the words of Cork parent Ciarán Hegarty who is both relieved and frustrated following the temporary opening of a new path offering his two young children a far safer route to school.

The path, which connects the Ballybrack Pedestrian and Cycle Scheme to Carr's Hill, provides pupils of Douglas & Rochestown Educate Together National School an alternative route to and from the school.

Previously, since the school opened in 2023, children have had to walk a dangerously narrow footpath along Carr’s Hill with heavy traffic passing them.

In places, the path is barely wide enough to fit two people walking abreast and parents feared a terrible accident was just waiting to happen.

For the past two years, parents have been left frustrated by repeated delays and an apparent lack of progress on the Ballybrack Pedestrian and Cycle Scheme.

On Tuesday, developers of the scheme, Cairn Homes, opened the path on a temporary basis from 7am to 3pm daily.

“I'm delighted that the path is finally open. It's a huge relief to not have to walk on Carr's Hill anymore,” said Ciarán Hegarty whose two sons attend the school.

“The path is wide and well built, and it's great to be able to walk to school without always having to keep eyes on the kids and the oncoming cars, trucks, and buses,” he added.

The path, which is a three-way project between Cork City Council, Cairn Homes, and the Department of Education, is expected to open permanently towards the end of February after ESB connects the route’s lighting.

However, Mr Hegarty said he is still “absolutely baffled” as to why this path took so long to complete.

He said: “What I witnessed over the past two years were brief periods of work punctuated by long periods of inactivity. At one point in time the path stayed untouched for over a year, and I still don't know what caused the delay.”

Mr Hegarty said he is also “particularly galled” that the delays in the latter part of the project all seemed to revolve around disputes over who was taking ownership of the path and when.

“All three bodies seemed very concerned about exposing themselves to liability should any falls or injuries occur on their portion of the path. None of them seemed to give much care to what might happen should a similar trip or fall occur while a child was walking on Carr's Hill as a truck was passing,” he said.

“I understand that these three bodies all have a legal right to shield themselves from risk, but they have a greater responsibility to shield children from the risk of serious injury or death from having to walk an unsafe path to school,” added Mr Hegarty.

A spokesperson for Cork city Council said: “Cork City Council is working to deliver the Ballybrack Pedestrian and Cycle Scheme, which aims to provide improved facilities for cyclists and pedestrians along the greenway route and has been liaising all concerned parties to this end.”