The removal of parking spaces is now harming town-centre businesses in both Cashel and Thurles.
Cllr Roger Kennedy recently raised the alarm at a meeting of the Tipperary – Cahir – Cashel Municipal District. He said road-realignment works in Cashel had removed 12 parking spaces, leaving fewer places for passing customers and discouraging people from stopping in to shop locally.
Thurles traders know this story only too well. Successive traffic and public-realm changes have reduced town-centre parking, while the approved second phase of the Liberty Square scheme will remove further spaces. Traders strongly opposed that plan, warning that it could damage businesses and put further jobs at risk. Nevertheless, it was proposed by Cllr Ms Peggy Ryan, seconded by Cllr Mr Seán Ryan and approved by the municipal-district members. Against this background, Tipperary County Council is pressing ahead with countywide “harmonised” parking charges.
So who came up with that idea? The review began following calls from Clonmel councillors. Former Director of Services, Mr Marcus O’Connor, promised the review, after which the council’s Infrastructure Strategic Policy Committee and officials developed the tiered charging system. The final Parking Bye-Laws 2026 were approved by the full County Council on 13th July 2026.
Background to the parking review. Thurles already had paid parking, it dates back at least to the former Thurles Town Council’s 2005 bye-laws. In April 2025, the elected members of Thurles Municipal District adopted replacement bye-laws retaining paid parking in Thurles. The 2026 countywide scheme now places Thurles in Tier 2 and is intended to standardise parking charges across the county.
The council says parking charges encourage turnover and help make spaces available to shoppers. But that argument becomes increasingly difficult to accept when the council is simultaneously approving schemes that remove the very spaces shoppers need.
You cannot improve parking turnover in spaces that no longer exist.
You cannot encourage people to shop locally while making it progressively more difficult—and more expensive—for them to stop.
You cannot speak about revitalising town centres while ignoring traders who depend on passing customers and convenient short-stay parking.
The issue is not simply parking charges, nor is it simply the removal of spaces. It is the combined effect:
Fewer town-centre parking spaces.
Charges on much of what remains.
Increased competition from out-of-town retailers offering free parking.
Less convenience for older people and those with limited mobility.
Reduced passing trade for independent businesses.
Decisions proceeding despite strong concerns from local traders.
There was significant resistance even among councillors themselves. An amendment allowing municipal districts to provide a one-hour-free-parking option passed by only 19 votes to 17. That close vote shows how divided elected representatives were over the council executive’s original 20-minutes-free proposal.
Cashel and Thurles need a joined-up parking policy based on the actual number of spaces available, business needs, accessibility and independently measured town-centre footfall, not a one-size-fits-all charging exercise.
Before further spaces are removed or new charges take effect, Tipperary County Council should publish:
The total number of spaces removed in each town during the past five years.
The number due to be removed under approved schemes.
The expected effect on footfall and local businesses.
Current occupancy and turnover figures.
A clear plan for replacement parking.
The names and recorded votes of councillors who approved the relevant schemes and bye-laws.
Local businesses are being asked to survive with fewer customers, fewer convenient spaces and additional parking costs. That is not town-centre regeneration, but rather an obstacle to it.
Thurles, Co. Tipperary has apparently developed an innovative transport policy; to force enormous juggernauts through streets designed when the principal form of heavy traffic had four legs and ate hay.
Available to view on Mill Road, Thurles, one of two signs within metres of each other, originally warning of a dangerous junction and dangerous bends. Pic: G. Willoughby.
The predictable result can be seen in the accompanying, undeniable video shown hereunder; for months damaged signs, battered street furniture, demolished walls, uprooted and dinged bollards and not surprisingly yet another enormous bill waiting for the over-stretched ratepayer.
If the claim that 90% of signs are seriously damaged is to be stated as fact, Tipperary County Council should immediately conduct and publish a proper survey. What is already beyond dispute is that the council; not passing motorists or magical road-sign fairies, is totally responsible for maintaining signs on local and regional roads.
Video courtesy of G. Willoughby. (Feel free to copy/share).
Local residents may know every turn in Thurles by instinct, by memory and generations of experience, but tourists, delivery drivers and other non locals do not. They depend on clear, visible signs to identify directions, restrictions and hazards.
Damaged or unreadable signage is therefore more than an embarrassment; it creates a genuine road-safety concern, particularly where unfamiliar drivers must make sudden decisions while navigating narrow, heavily trafficked streets. The Road Safety Authority expressly identifies regulatory, warning and information signs as essential guidance for tourists using Irish roads. Visitors should receive directions, not an unscheduled navigation exam, with a juggernaut approaching from the opposite direction.
For years, Thurles residents have heard about an Inner Relief Road and an Outer Bypass. The council’s 2024 – 2030 Local Area Plan still describes both as projects for which funding must be secured. The Inner Relief Road alone is intended to provide a 1.1-kilometre connection between the N62 and Mill Road, while the proposed bypass would link the N62, N75 and R498.
In 2025, only €100,000 was allocated to progress the Inner Relief Road’s detailed design. That is progress in the same sense that buying a doormat means your house is nearly built.
Mr Michael Lowry TD, Mr Alan Kelly TD and Mr Ryan O’Meara TD must now provide the public with something more useful than announcements, photographs and recycled assurances.
The evidence for action is already visible on the road. Official data published for the N62 at Turtulla records an average of 9,539 vehicle movements every day. More importantly, Tipperary County Council’s own Thurles Local Transport Plan concludes that the proposed road schemes would reduce total traffic in the town-centre core by approximately 20%, cut traffic crossing the River Suir bridge by more than 50%, and reduce town-centre heavy-goods traffic by approximately 50%.
The same plan states that roughly three-quarters of the predicted reduction would involve strategic traffic that neither begins nor ends its journey in Thurles. Vehicles presently passing through the town would use a suitable alternative route which presently does not exist. These are not speculative complaints, they are the council’s own measurements and modelling, providing compelling evidence that the relief road and bypass are necessary for safer streets, more reliable commercial access and a town centre that can perhaps function more effectively.
Thurles Needs Immediately:-
► A confirmed and fully funded delivery programme for the Inner Relief Road. ►A published timetable for the bypass. ► A professional audit of damaged signs and street furniture. ►A costed plan to prevent heavy vehicles repeatedly causing further damage. ►Clear public reporting of who sought funding, when it was sought and what response was received.
Thurles residents have waited long enough. They deserve proper engineering, funding and dates, not another series of ceremonial announcement that the announcement of a future announcement is progressing according to plan.
As of approximately 1:40pm, today, Sunday, August 2nd 2026, it has been confirmed that a fire has again reignited on the southern slopes of Slievenamon, outside Clonmel in County Tipperary.
Tipperary County Council reported that crews from Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir fire stations were responding to the incident and working to contain the affected area. Aerial firefighting support was also requested to assist operations.
Importantly, officials said that, at the time of the update, there was no threat to life or property. The situation was being closely monitored, with emergency resources remaining in place as required.
This appears to be a renewed flare-up connected to the major wildfire that has affected Slievenamon since July 20th and not a confirmed new fire beginning. Authorities had previously warned that hotspots could remain beneath the surface for a prolonged period and reignite during warm, dry or otherwise favourable conditions. Substantial, sustained rainfall may be needed to dampen the affected ground and vegetation fully.
People should avoid the affected area, allow emergency crews unrestricted access and report visible fire or immediate danger through 999 or 112.
Further verified updates will be published as they become available.
Water quality in private water supplies (small private supplies and private group schemes) is not as good as public water supplies.
Small private supplies provide drinking water to, for example, schools, nursing homes and hotels. Private group schemes cover 376 community run supplies.
1,600 small private drinking water supplies are registered, but the total number remains unknown as there is no legal requirement to register.
Unregistered supplies are not sampled by local authorities and may unknowingly be providing unsafe drinking water to consumers.
Failures due to E. coli in private group schemes reduced to 14 in 2025, down from 24 in 2024.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released its Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies 2025 report. The report highlights that drinking water quality in private supplies continues to fall short of the standards achieved by public supplies delivered by Uisce Éireann.
There are approximately 370 private group schemes supplying drinking water to more than 194,000 people in rural communities across Ireland. In addition, over 1,600 small private supplies are registered with local authorities, providing drinking water from their own wells to commercial and public activities, such as schools, crèches, nursing homes, hotels, camping sites and sports clubs.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) in 2023, identified the need to strengthen the governance, oversight and management of private water supplies. Progress on implementing measures to address this deficit has been slow. The DHLGH must implement these reforms as a priority.
A key first step is to make registration a legal obligation for small private supplies. Currently approximately 1,600 small private supplies are registered, but it is estimated that there are many more not registered.
Launching the report, Mr Pat Byrne, Director, EPA Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring said: “It is unacceptable that people visiting a local business or using local amenities could unknowingly consume water from a well that is not registered or sampled, putting themselves and their family’s health at risk. Suppliers should act immediately and register their supplies, so they are monitored by local authorities, giving suppliers and consumers confidence in the quality of their drinking water.”
Small Private Supplies – Water Quality Compliance. The presence of E. coli bacteria in drinking water means it is contaminated and that it poses a risk to people’s health. Small private supplies continue to have poorer E. coli compliance than public water supplies provided by Uisce Éireann, with 67 supplies failing the standard in 2025. This is a compliance rate of 95%.
Private Group Schemes – Water Quality Compliance. Fourteen private group schemes, supplying 1,854 people, had E. coli failures in 2025 – down from 24 in 2024. Six of these, however, had repeat failures of E. coli in both 2024 and 2025 due to a combination of operational and infrastructural issues creating risks for consumers. In 2025, seventeen private group schemes, serving 19,362 people, failed the Trihalomethane (THM) standard. This represents only a minor improvement on 2024, when 19 schemes failed to meet the standard.
Mr Noel Byrne, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring said: “While there has been some improvement in E. coli compliance in group schemes, the continued failures in several private group schemes shows that more action is needed. Local authorities must work closely with suppliers to identify the causes of failures and ensure corrective actions are put in place. Where suppliers do not act, or where failures persist, local authorities must escalate enforcement action, so consumers are protected.”
The EPA report on Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies – 2025 is available on the EPA Website HERE.
Urgent action required to address household emissions and reduce exposure to fossil fuel price volatility says Climate Change Advisory Council.
The Built Environment sector accounted for 12.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2025.
Residential building emissions fell year-on-year by 5.0%, while emissions from commercial and public buildings fell by 3.5%, primarily due to a warmer winter.
Launching the Built Environment chapter of its Annual Review 2026 today, the Council said increased investment and faster rollout is needed in retrofitting, heat pumps, solar PV and district heating to reduce emissions, improve comfort and health outcomes and to protect citizens against volatile energy costs.
Although there has been a reduction in built environment emissions, the Council says these reductions should not be mistaken for structural progress. While residential and commercial/public buildings remained within their first sectoral emissions ceilings for 2021–2025, the outlook for the next carbon budget period is much more challenging. Both residential buildings and commercial and public buildings are projected to exceed their second sectoral emissions ceilings for 2026–2030 by 22% and 62% respectively.
The review warns that progress on local authority social housing retrofits remains too slow, with only 10,370 homes retrofitted since 2021. Approximately 5,000 retrofits are needed on average each year between now and 2030. The Council is calling for increased, sustained and ring-fenced multi-annual funding in Budget 2027 to allow local authorities to accelerate retrofit delivery and meet the Government’s own targets of 36,500 social houses brought to BER B2 or cost-optimal standard by 2030. The review also highlights solar PV as one of the fastest routes to lower bills and widen participation in the energy transition. It recommends the roll out of solar PV across local authority housing stock and that a national framework should also be put in place for plug-in solar to allow apartment dwellers to benefit from solar energy.
The Council says delayed and incomplete policy frameworks are now creating uncertainty for households, local authorities, industry and investors. For example, the delayed National Building Renovation Plan, due last December, has prompted the European Commission to open infringement proceedings in March. The plan should be published immediately, with a clear pathway to phase out fossil fuel boilers by 2040 as required under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The Council identifies the requirement for a National Heat Strategy based on spatial planning, system diversity and resilience, to identify where district heating, geothermal energy, heat pumps and other low-carbon heating solutions can be most effectively deployed. The Council acknowledges Cabinet approval for revisions to the General Scheme of the Heat (Networks and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, but the legislation has slipped repeatedly and must now be finalised and enacted to give district heating the regulatory certainty it needs.
On resilience, the Council wants to see a clear programme of work so the Built Environment and Planning sector can develop and implement a dedicated Sectoral Adaptation Plan in the next plan cycle. Ensuring our built environment is resilient to immediate and future climate change impacts, such as heatwaves and flooding, is paramount to securing the future of our communities. In addition, the Council also recommends that Government expedite the development of coastal change management plans in priority vulnerable areas. Mr Alex White, Chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council, said: “As long as Ireland remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels to heat homes and buildings, our households, businesses and public services will remain exposed to global price volatility and energy insecurity. The Government has set the right ambition to end Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels. The test now is delivery. We have the solutions and we know there is an appetite for them, but they must be enabled through policy and legislation. These solutions must be funded to deliver lower-cost clean energy for Ireland. Our communities also need plans and solutions to prepare for the impacts of climate change, especially coastal areas and those that are at risk of flooding. This transition must be fair. Social housing retrofit is one of the clearest tests of delivery. The State owns this housing stock, the targets are clear, and the benefits for households are immediate. To meet the 2030 target, local authorities will need to retrofit around twice as many homes each year as were delivered in 2025.”
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