Campervans in Marina area?

Yes, business to the area. Coffee dock right next to it. The Marina Market and Black Market witching easy walking distance. Blackrock village within easy walking distance as is the City itself. Why do you think it’s so popular?

Of course people are overnighting there. It’s perfectly legal. I live close by so won’t need it for my own camper, but when I’m abroad I’m sure the villages and towns I stop in are grateful for whatever bit of business I bring to their area.

Well, there’s a big difference. Motor homes and Campers are built on their own chassis and are classified as vehicles in their own right. They are also insured and taxed in their own right. Hence, they are legal to park in public car parks. Caravans need towing and are not classified as vehicles in themselves. Parking a caravan is essentially camping, which may not be legal. This is the origin of Aires in France, where caravans are not usually allowed. Motorhome owners argued (successfully) that they are allowed park as per any vehicle so the Aires developed from there and on to other countries in mainland Europe. This brings business to towns and villages that would otherwise go elsewhere. Many of these towns put services in for waste etc and charge a small fee as an alternative to campsites. These services are not available in the Marina, so it’s just a car park. Cobh does have an area which does provide services and charges.

Yes, agree with all of this.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I’d love to see (more than one) proper campier/Motorhome park in Cork. Tramore Valley was mooted at one point. My reply to the OP was just trying to explain the legalities and the difference between campers/motor homes and caravans. There were two caravans there last week and one there on a fairly regular basis. Doesn’t bother me but that may pose legal problems re camping as opposed to temporary parking as I tried to explain above. I foresee problems in the future as well, especially with the CCC potentially putting up a height barrier. Hope that never comes about as I’m on the camper side of the argument. Proper parking for campers could be a good money spinner and these owners do spend in the locality.

I probably pass you on your walks on a regular basis. Fantastic amenity. Hello anyway.

the one on all saint's road? i often notice campers from germany etc. there.

you get loads of them in posh sandymount in D4 too on the seafront car parks, and no one seems to mind that much, so far.

I sympathise - there's quite the difference between camper vans just pulling in to a greenway type car park for an overnight and then moving on - to camper vans using it as semi permanent parking spot. Particularly if it impacts on local usage. First is fair enough, second is out of order.

I've been surprised at the amount of campervans there too. The car park gets full so it does have some impact at times.

Word has obviously got out, to be fair it's a great place to park. I'm not really against them, never seen issues with it but I can see if numbers continue to grow it may be an issue.

I find Ireland is pretty poor at providing facilities for these kinds of things. That's probably the route of the issue.

There was a Cork Kilkenny hurling league match taking place on Saturday evening.

There are over 200 places in that car park - 10 or 20 campervans doesn't have a huge impact. A bigger problem I see is the number of drivers who take two slots to make sure no-one parks alongside their car.

There are also three local boat clubs using the car park - Lee, Shandon and Naomhoga Chorcai.

This was an issue near Coal Harbour, Dun Laoghaire. Camper vans parking up taking more than one space (parked so the space beside it could not be used by another vehicle so they had space to sit outside). It was just selfish behaviour by most of them. Recreational users of the area (paddle boarding, sailing, going for a walk had fewer spaces for short term parking, which is the purpose of the car parks. When a big concert was in in town it would be rammed with vans to avail of a cheap overnight (€4)

Generally the people parking up there spent little in the area. Some left refuse, emptied toilets into sea and also tried to avail of free hot showers in a nearby sailing club. I think in Howth they are banned from the car park now over similar reasons.

Last year DRCC who now manage DL harbour erected a height restricted barrier which solved the problem

I have nothing against camper vans. In popular places, dedicated parking areas with proper facilities, and a charge that reflects the time spent parked up is the way forward.

Sorry, edited post above to say 'some' emptied toilets, left litter.

It's would be easy to do things like this late at night or early morning.

Parking enforcement is little to none around there anyway.

I counted about 15 campervans parked up there during christmas week. Not a bad idea for people visiting family, I guess.