Residents at Glenbarrow Waterfall in the Slieve Bloom Mountains have described as ‘chaotic’ the traffic conditions as emergency services battled to reach an elderly woman on Bank Holiday Monday.
Issues over parking at the tourist destinations are well flagged at this stage and they are further highlighted when a serious incident happens.
Around 4pm yesterday, members of the emergency services including fire and ambulance were called to the mountain.
Merely four hours previous, the Glenbarrow Residents Facebook page reported the car park was full and that delays of 25 minutes were being experienced for people trying to visit the area.
Emergency services did reach the woman, who is aged in her 80s, and transported her to hospital where she is now recovering.
Following the incident, a post on the Glenbarrow Residents Facebook page called on the fire service to make gardai and Laois County Council award of the traffic situation.
They said: “Following today’s incident in Glenbarrow, Rosenallis and the difficulty experienced by the emergency service in accessing the car park, we the residents would be obliged if the fire service would officially inform the gardaí and county council of the chaotic traffic situation.”
A decision on a planning application to construct a new car park up there is due next month.
Nicholas Dunne has applied to provide a new car park to act as an overflow for existing car park at Glenbarrow.
Issues in regards to parking in Glenbarrow have been ongoing for the last number of years as there are only 34 car parking spaces available in the car park up there.
