{"id":481935,"date":"2026-06-04T02:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T02:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481935\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T02:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T02:34:09","slug":"luas-cork-highfield-rugby-club-vows-to-oppose-proposed-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481935\/","title":{"rendered":"Luas Cork: Highfield Rugby Club vows to oppose proposed route"},"content":{"rendered":"

The preferred route for the proposed 20km light rail service was published in April, refining last year\u2019s emerging preferred route, with significant changes on the western end, in Ballincollig and Bishopstown. Public consultations on the revised route end next week<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s emerging preferred route had the Luas travelling along Melbourn Rd toward Curraheen Rd, joining Bishopstown Rd in front of Cork University Hospital (CUH).<\/p>\n

The revised proposals have the route turning east at the northern end of Melbourn Rd, running past Bishopstown Community School and cutting through the grounds of Bishopstown GAA Club and Highfield RFC.<\/p>\n

Last month, Bishopstown GAA vowed to fight<\/a> the proposed rail line running through its grounds \u201cto the end\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now Highfield has said the preferred route presents an \u201cexistential threat\u201d to its future, and has called on members to make submissions to the public consultation process.<\/p>\n

Highfield said the route \u201cdoesn\u2019t just graze our boundaries \u2014\u00a0it cuts through the very heart of our club\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor almost a century, Highfield has been a cornerstone of the Bishopstown community<\/a>. Now, we face a future where our ability to provide rugby for all ages is at risk of being permanently derailed,\u201d the club said in a post on its website.<\/p>\n

It said its second and third pitches \u201cwill be rendered virtually redundant”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Access to these areas would require crossing a high-frequency twin-track Luas line, creating a physical and logistical barrier.”<\/p>\n

It cited health and safety concerns. Its large group of under-age players would be forced to cross the twin-track Luas lines, something which \u201cmay result in the termination of our underage offering\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"CorkCork Luas preferred route: Wilton Roundabout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Highfield said a significant portion of its lower car park will be eliminated by the preferred route, \u201ccompromising club security and removing a vital revenue stream currently generated through our leasing arrangement with CUH\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message is clear: we support public transport, but it cannot come at the cost of destroying a vital community sports institution,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, transport minister Darragh O\u2019Brien said<\/a> the light rail system is \u201ca really important project for Cork\u201d and he believes that sports clubs such as Bishopstown should be compensated with new facilities and extra grounds.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) said it was actively engaging with potentially impacted clubs, schools, residents, and businesses across the route including Bishopstown GAA and Highfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of this consultation is to gather feedback about the preferred route so that we can carry out further studies and surveys to refine the design,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Public consultation on the preferred route closes at 5pm on Friday, June 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The preferred route for the proposed 20km light rail service was published in April, refining last year\u2019s emerging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[175377,79,61,60,43,16456],"class_list":["post-481935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-luas","tag-cork-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-public-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}