While traffic will come to a standstill in Mitchelstown on this Thursday evening with hundreds expected to congregate for Stage 5 of the Rás, thoughts of traffic disruptions will also be to the fore in neighbouring Fermoy, albeit on a much more serious scale.

News of the part closure of Ashe Quay for a three week period in June, due to unforeseen circumstances, is most unwelcome. It is bad news for the rowing club and the community youth centre and will, most likely, do little favour for buisnesses on the quay.

Coupled with that, there’s the job of getting ten thousand loads of earth from Corrin to the old mart site in the town –  mind boggling to say the least. When the town council balked at the idea of eight trucks an hour going through the town centre during the day, the contractor decided to go through the village of Coolagown instead. However, residents in the village moved swiftly to ensure that would not be allowed happen. Compromise was reached this week however on a couple of fronts, but whether or not it’ll be enough to allow the contractor draw all of the required material to meet the four month deadline remains to be seen.

When the flood plan was first mooted there was much talk of ‘no pain, no gain’. Well, Fermoy town is certainly going to have its fair share of pain over the next few months. We can only hope the gain will follow in spades!