Cork road cracking under the strain of fish-laden trucks departing Ireland’s biggest fishing port

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

The Castletownbere to Cork road is struggling to cope with the volume of trucks transporting fish from the busy port onwards to European markets as an estimated 200 articulated trucks a week are now using the route known locally as the Bantry line.

At this week’s meeting of the West Cork Municipal District, Cllr Finbarr Harrington put forward a motion calling on the government to seek funding from the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) to upgrade the route.

“Castletownbere is now the largest fishing port in Ireland and the fourth largest in Europe by value. This has led to a large increase in articulated trucks travelling the Bantry line to and from Castletownbere to collect fish and drop off supplies to the boats, plus there’s all the diesel trucks that go to supply them with fuel,” he said.

“Many parts of the Bantry line are feeling the effects of all this extra traffic with parts of it subsiding, cracking and collapsing. So I think it’s only fair if the Department of Agriculture can invest €110 million euro on the pier that has led to a massive increase in heavy traffic on the road, then they should make a contribution towards the maintenance and upgrade of that same road.”

Cllr Danny Collins agreed and stressed the dangers posed by the number of trucks now travelling on the regional roads along the route.

“Most of these trucks are well over the white line. I honestly don't know why there aren’t more serious accidents. A lot of them travel in convoy, three or four of them together, something like you’d see in that old film years ago, Smokey and the Bandit,” he said.

Cllr Collins called for more passing bays so that other motorists don’t get stuck behind the trucks.

Cllr Joe Carroll described the Bantry line as “nothing more than a boreen. Especially when you're looking at the size of the vehicles that are travelling it. You’re meeting those big trucks around corners and you’re only inches away from their wheels.

“It’s nerve-racking at times when you meet them. I know some people who don't travel that road over the fact that they would meet those trucks.”

Responding to Cllr Harrington’s motion, an official from Cork County Council’s road department said that the local authority will engage with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to see if there are projects on the road that could be supported by funding from the EMFAF.