Thurles Christmas Parking An Insult To Town Retailers.

Residents can read contents of this laughable, published and attached image themselves, composed first on November 24th, 2021.

Text of image left reads:

“Notice is hereby given that free parking is being made available to the public in the following town as follows: –

Thurles Town.

Free Parking for the first 30 minutes of every day for the month of December 2021.

[Then comes the real humour].
This initiative is designed to promote local trade and to encourage support for our local Traders, during the festive season.

Please shop local this Christmas.

We wish all our customers the compliments of the season.

Signed: Sharon Scully, (District Administrator Thurles).

This decision we must correctly assume was agreed NOT by Tipperary Co. Council, but by Thurles Municipal District Councillors controlled by Thurles Municipal District officialdom. We base this assumption on the information supplied on the Tipperary Co. Council’s own website, regarding other Tipperary Towns; Thurles as yet not included.

In Cashel: Free parking in all Public Car Parks each Saturday in December.
In Cahir: Free parking in all Public Car Parks each Saturday in December.
In Clonmel: Free Parking in Council owned car parks only.
In Carrick-on-Suir: Free Parking in Council owned car parks at William Street, New Street, Strand Lane and Greenside, on the following Saturdays, December 4th, 11th and 18th.
In Nenagh: From Saturday 11th to Sunday 26th December 2021, three hours free parking in carparks. Free parking continues to apply in the Railway Station Carpark, on a full-time basis.
In Mullingar, Co. Westmeath: Shoppers will be able to park for free in council car parks for six days in December. The days when free parking will apply are December 11th, 17th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th.
In Kilkenny City, Co. Kilkenny: From this morning Kilkenny County Council state that it is free to park at the Market Yard in the city from 9:00am to 12:00 noon, Mondays to Thursdays, for the next three weeks. There will also be no charge for vehicles that enter there after 6:00pm or at any time between December 25th and 28th. The carpark at County Hall will also be free every weekend in December: 5th/6th, 12th/13th, 19th/20th and 26th/27th as well as Monday 28th.

Of the above named Towns and City, where would you our readers shop, based on the info supplied?

Let’s Take A Look Now At Rules Imposed On Thurles Town Shoppers Christmas 2021.

But first, as part of sponsored content, the Tipperary Star Newspaper has announced via their publication, “The new installation of Christmas lights will be illuminated on the refurbished Liberty Square this Friday evening December 3rd at 5:00pm.”

“Sponsored Content”:
Same is material in any online publication which resembles the publication’s editorial content, but is in fact paid for by a hidden advertiser and intended to promote that advertiser’s product. In this case the paid-for PR material is totally untrue and totally inaccurate.

Work began on the refurbishment of Liberty Square with the opening of the proposed new car park to the rear of Jackie Griffin’s shop, back in May, 2018. The developers then moved unto Liberty Square itself in August 2020.

To date, December 2nd 2021, 16 months later, the first part of the refurbishment of Liberty Square is unlikely to be fully completed before Christmas, with part two of the project possibly not yet gone to tender and unlikely to be completed before next April 2022, or indeed later, resulting in this project likely to take some 4 years since it commenced; should it continue past May of 2022. Only the upper western end of Liberty Square and the eastern end have lighting. Lights in the centre, however, to use the lyrics sung by Danny Kay are “all together as naked as the day that it (he) was born”

So whoever wrote the paid-for sponsored content, for the Tipperary Star Newspaper, same unnamed individual is plainly a fabricator of visual truth.

With the introduction of car parking charges in the town, most of the smart businesses with household names, like Elvery’s, An Post, Heatons, Quigley’s etc, etc, etc, either left the town altogether, or moved to Thurles Shopping Centre, where parking is provided free of charge. Others just shut up shop. As we prophesied, Thurles town centre has now moved with some of its shops, reducing footfall in Liberty Square by 75%.

Since the developers moved unto Liberty Square in August 2020, people have further avoided Liberty Square, as employees of all the developers understandable took over early morning, available customer parking spaces, both on the street and in Ulster Bank car park and the new car park, latter affectionately known as “Checkpoint Charlie”.

Having grasped all of these development issues, together with Covid-19 shutdowns, readers would have thought that struggling retailers should have been given a real break this Christmas to entice back footfall.

Currently parking on lower Liberty Square, Thurles has been reduced by approximately 8 car parking spaces, same designated to 5 Taxi spaces and 3 spaces for any 1 delivery truck . A further 2 spaces have been correctly given over for disabled parking. Currently about 14 other legal parking spaces only, remain available tonight, due to refurbishment staff vehicles and their site office.

We are informed by our Traffic Warden and some Councillors that stationary vehicles are permitted 15 minutes of free parking every day of the year. Surely the extra 15 minutes now added on for Christmas shopping, shows a middle finger to both retailers and their customers, by our local administration.

• Where now is the farmer’s friend Mr Jackie Cahill TD and the millionaire’s friend Mr Michael Lowry TD and his Lowry Team councillors?
• Where also is Thurles Chamber of Commerce in all of this?

Answer to both these questions is nowhere.

Since Mr Michael Ryan’s retirement as Thurles administrator, back in April 2016, quality and dedicated administration in Thurles, has been sadly lacking.

We now invite Ms Sharon Scully, to don her overcoat, scarf, gloves, plus wellies and armed with a note pad and pencil to make notes; take a walk around Thurles town and introduce herself to the retailers. Note please, the empty shop buildings and the damaged sign posts.
Please come on a Friday morning, if possible, when stinking offal is being driven through the town centre, usually between 11:00am and 12:00 noon, forcing shops to close their doors because of the stink.
Note what pedestrian crossing lights are not working; where the grass is growing in our drains and on our pavements; visit Kickham Street and survey the river of water flowing down the roadway and the water filled potholes damaging people’s homes. The glass bottles and clothing falling from ‘Recycling Pods’ in various parking areas; the continuous destruction of our new town park; the graffiti; the raw sewage flowing into the river Suir, the litter bins unfit for purpose, etc, etc, etc.

Finally, in Tralee, Co Kerry: Parking will be free all day in Council-owned car parks in the town from November 29th 2021 to January 2nd next 2022.
Parking is subject to a maximum stay period of four hours in all Council car parks, except in Garvey’s car park (2 hours); St John’s/Abbey (2 hours); Tesco town centre (2 hours) and Parklands (2 hours), to ensure traffic flow.
Traffic wardens will continue to monitor and enforce illegal parking during this period.
Tralee traders on social media are protesting, stating # Tralee for next five weeks, “Don’t feed the Meters”.