Lack of parking at train station slammed as a ‘holy disgrace’

A CARLOW woman who missed a hospital appointment in Dublin after she could not find a parking space at Carlow Train Station has described the parking situation as a “holy disgrace”.

“The whole car park is full and there are only four disability spaces now because of the construction works. It is ridiculous,” the woman told The Nationalist. “It’s a holy disgrace!” 

The woman, who asked not to be named, holds a blue badge for disabled parking and, despite suffering from ill health herself, has to care for her disabled daughter, too.

She was due to travel to Dublin for a hospital appointment last week but missed it because she couldn’t find suitable parking at the train station.

Ongoing maintenance work at the train station has left several disability parking spaces out of use. CRS Contracts, a roofing and stonemasonry contractor, is repairing the fabric of the building and carrying out preventative maintenance on the roof and adjacent stonework alongside Irish Rail maintenance crews.

A conductor at the station told the woman that her only options were to park at St Dympna’s Hospital, further down St Joseph’s Road, or to park elsewhere in the town and walk to the station.

“For me to be told to go downtown was wrong,” she said.

In total, seven disability parking spaces at the front of the station are out of use due to the maintenance work, while Irish Rail has provided four temporary disabled parking bays opposite the original parking area.

“This is going on so long and they don’t know when the end it’ll end. There are six or seven disability parking spaces gone; it is ridiculous,” she said.

In May, a spokesperson for Irish Rail said the maintenance work was expected to continue until ‘mid-July’. However, in a statement provided to this newspaper, Irish Rail confirmed that the ‘essential works will be ongoing until Q1 2027’.

The company said the possibility of providing additional disability parking spaces would ‘need to be examined’ as the works had temporarily reduced the overall number of spaces in the car park.

On the guidance provided to station staff, Irish Rail said station management had been involved in identifying the proposed temporary location of the disability parking bays. The statement added that signage at the station explained the works and apologised to affected customers.

‘Passengers with reduced mobility can still fully access the station to gain access to all rail services. The side door to the waiting room is opened so that a more direct route into the booking office, waiting room and toilets is provided,’ the statement read.

Fine Gael councillor Fergal Browne, who is also principal of St Joseph’s Boys National School which is just down the road from the train station, said the current situation was “disgraceful” and questioned why the youth centre on Green Lane could not be opened as an overflow car park.

“It is disgraceful and I can’t understand why the church (Carlow cathedral) won’t open up access to the youth centre. It would make such a difference,” cllr Browne said, adding that the situation was chaotic.

“People having cancer treatment who need to be on the train for appointments and whatnot … to think they might have no seats on the train or spaces to park. It is disgraceful, the service they are being given,” cllr Browne said.

“These people deserve a bit of comfort. They have enough going on in their lives without having to worry about a parking spot,” he said.

Cllr Browne added that he understood there had been talks between Irish Rail and the cathedral parish about providing additional parking spaces. He said the proposal would be a “no-brainer” and could generate extra revenue for the youth centre.

“If you had cars parking there from 8am to 6pm, it wouldn’t affect activities in the youth centre because they’re mainly on in the evening and it would just make a huge difference. I just think we need to bang heads together and have a bit of common sense,” he concluded.