Result — 19 August 2026

Option 7 has been dropped

Irish Rail published its Depot Access Road Option Selection report today. Option 7 is no longer the preferred route. A new Revised Option 1A — approaching the depot from the N25 at Carrigtwohill via Carrigane Road — is now the preferred option and the only one progressing to the next stage. In the revised assessment Option 7 scores 2.8, down from the 4.7 that won it selection in November 2025.

Irish Rail's report records that "a community-led website was established to advocate for changes to the preferred access route" and that, in response to the feedback received, "the project team committed to reviewing both the assessment process and the depot access route options." Thank you to every person who made that happen.

Read the outcome in full Thank you
Next stage — local consultation to 9 September 2026

Option 1A is a preferred option, not yet a planning permission. A three-week local consultation on it runs to 9 September 2026, with an in-person event at My Place, Midleton on Wednesday 2 September from 4pm to 8pm if you would like to see the revised design. Irish Rail will then complete a feedback report and lodge a draft Railway Order with An Coimisiún Pleanála, expected in Winter 2026/27. Contact for the project team: CACR@irishrail.ie.

Campaign successful — Ballyrichard, East Cork

We said No to Option 7

Of eight assessed routes to the new Depot at Ballyrichard, Irish Rail chose the only one that took residential front gardens and mature native trees. Hundreds of you objected. On 19 August 2026 it was set aside.

Read the outcome See the protest gallery Why we objected
Thank you

To everyone who stood with us

In May 2026 Option 7 was Irish Rail's Emerging Preferred Option. Twelve weeks later it has been set aside. Nobody handed that to us — it was won by hundreds of ordinary people who read a technical report, wrote a submission, knocked on a neighbour's door, or stood at Cotter's Gate on a Thursday evening in June.

Everyone who made a submission

Around 800 emails had reached the project team by 10 June, with more in the final week. Irish Rail's report notes "a large number of petitions were submitted regarding the preferred depot access route." Those submissions reopened the assessment.

Neighbours and residents

To everyone who came to My Place on 27 May, to the online meeting on 10 June, and to the group photo at Cotter's Gate on 11 June — including the children, the dogs and the horse. To everyone who shared the site, printed a flyer, or talked it through over a garden wall.

Our public representatives

Liam Quaide TD, Noel McCarthy TD, Jerry Buttimer TD, Cllr. Anthony Barry, Cllr. Rory Cocking, Mona Stromsoe of Aontú, and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú MEP. Every one of them gave their time, walked the route, and raised it directly with Irish Rail.

The press

Thank you to the Irish Independent, and to the local and cycling press who read the evidence rather than the press release.

Everyone who did the technical work

The ecological surveys that found five Annex IV bat species and two Red-listed bird species along the corridor. The flood photographs. The people who read the Multi-Criteria Assessment line by line. Evidence is what made the objection impossible to dismiss.

And, in fairness, Irish Rail

The project team committed in June to reviewing both the assessment process and the route options — and then actually did it, and came back with a different answer. That deserves acknowledgement. We always supported the rail programme; we opposed one decision within it.

Read the full outcome, the revised scores, and what happens next →

The record — why we objected

What Irish Rail had proposed to do

Option 7 was dropped on 19 August 2026. This section is kept as the record of the case that was made against it — it is written in the present tense as it stood during the consultation. See what Irish Rail has proposed instead →

The Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme Phase 2 includes a new maintenance depot near Ballyrichard, east of Carrigtwohill. What we did not support was Option 7 — the access road originally chosen to reach it.

Of eight options assessed, Irish Rail selected the route that caused the most harm to local residents. Option 7 would have passed directly through private residential front gardens, including the one in the photo above, requiring the compulsory acquisition of garden land and the felling of mature native trees that have stood for generations.

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Residential gardens and mature native trees destroyed

The access road would cut through the private front gardens of multiple households — amenity built over decades, gone permanently. Option 7 also requires the felling of mature native oak and ash trees that have provided habitat for wildlife for generations.

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A planned cycling greenway altered

Cork County Council's approved inter-urban cycleway runs through this same corridor, designed as a quiet off-road route through farmland. Option 7 would replace that with a path alongside a two-lane depot road used by HGVs around the clock.

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Workers' road only

This is not a public road or passenger access. It serves depot staff only. Destroying residential front gardens, felling mature native trees, altering a planned cycling greenway and adding 24-hour traffic to congested local roads — all to provide a staff entrance — is disproportionate when less harmful alternatives were assessed and scored within a narrow margin.

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Alternative routes exist

Irish Rail assessed eight options. Most avoid residential properties entirely. Irish Rail's own report admits Option 7 only "narrowly" beat other options. Review all seven alternatives →

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Severe traffic impact

The depot plans include 160 car parking spaces on the Carrigtwohill side. The depot will operate around the clock, requiring multiple shift changes throughout the day and night. Workers will travel the Waterrock Road and all approaches to reach them — significantly increasing traffic for local residents at all hours.

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Flooding and drainage risk

The depot's own drainage plans route a foul rising main along the access road to Castle Rock Avenue. Separately, large floodwater drain pipes from the new Waterrock estate are already being directed down Castle Rock Avenue into the small stream near Waterrock House. No flood impact study was carried out to assess the cumulative effect on Midleton — a town that has already suffered severe flooding.

We accepted the disruption of Phase 1 — night works, noise, construction traffic — because we believe in public transport. We are opposing one unnecessary decision that would destroy our neighbourhood when better options are right there on the map.

— Lisa, a resident directly affected by Option 7
The Evidence

What the maps and scores showed

These images are taken directly from Irish Rail's own PC2 Project Report (Section 12.2, November 2025). They show all eight options assessed and the scoring table Irish Rail used to choose Option 7. That scoring has since been redone — the revised Multi-Criteria Assessment of August 2026 puts Option 7 second-last and selects Revised Option 1A instead.

All eight depot access road options shown on aerial map — click to enlarge
Figure 12-8 — PC2 Project Report

All eight access road options

The aerial map shows every route considered. Most alternatives avoid residential properties entirely. Option 7 (their proposed option) is highlighted in cyan — it runs directly through the gardens of local families.

MCA scoring table for all depot access options
Figure 12-9 — PC2 Project Report

The scoring table

The MCA table shows the scoring used to select Option 7. Irish Rail's own report says the margin between Option 7 and other options was only "narrow".

Option 7 preferred depot access road route map
Figure 12-10 — PC2 Project Report

Option 7 route

The route map shows Option 7 cutting through residential land to reach the depot. This is the route Irish Rail has selected as its preferred option.

The key word in Irish Rail's own report

The PC2 Project Report states: "Option 7 narrowly edges out Option 8 on Land Use Impacts and Local Environment Impacts. It is recommended that Option 7 be the Emerging Preferred Option."

A narrow margin decided a choice that would permanently destroy residential front gardens and mature native trees. We asked Irish Rail to review that decision — and it did. In the revised assessment published on 19 August 2026, Option 7 scores 2.8 instead of 4.7, and Revised Option 1A is the preferred option at 4.5. See the revised scores →

Questions & Answers

What you need to know

Has Option 7 actually been dropped?

Yes. On 19 August 2026 Irish Rail published its Depot Access Road Option Selection report. Revised Option 1A is the preferred option and the only one marked to progress to the next stage. Option 7 scores 2.8 in the revised Multi-Criteria Assessment, down from the 4.7 that won it selection in November 2025 — the second-lowest score of all the options assessed. Read the full outcome, including the scores and the source documents →

What is Revised Option 1A?

Day-to-day depot access comes from the N25 at Junction 3, through Carrigtwohill Main Street and east along Carrigane Road, then into the depot by a short dedicated access road. The OBY7 rail bridge is widened to take the roughly 105 specialist rail vehicle deliveries needed to bring the new fleet into service. Part of Cork County Council's approved URDF scheme is delivered as part of it, improving pedestrian and cycle facilities and road safety around OBY7, and a section of the approved Carrigtwohill to Midleton Active Travel Route is realigned around the northern boundary of the depot. Depot construction traffic comes directly off the N25 through the Ballyadam (Amgen) site. Full details →

Is the campaign over? Is anything final?

Option 7 is off the table, which is what this campaign set out to achieve, so our objection has been answered. Option 1A is a preferred option rather than a planning permission, so stages remain: a local consultation running to 9 September 2026, and then a draft Railway Order to An Coimisiún Pleanála expected in Winter 2026/27, which carries its own statutory consultation. We are not taking a public position on Option 1A. The depot itself brings real impacts for the households closest to it whatever access road is chosen, and we don't underestimate what that means. Contact for the project team: CACR@irishrail.ie.

Were there alternative routes considered?

Yes — Irish Rail assessed eight options in total. Several would have reached the depot without passing through any residential front gardens. Irish Rail's own report acknowledged the margin between the chosen option and others was "narrow." We argued the methodology was flawed: it gave equal weight to all criteria, which diluted the severe impact on residents — a noise score of Highly Negative on nine households was averaged with 18 other criteria and effectively disappeared. Irish Rail committed to reviewing both the assessment process and the options, and the revised assessment published in August 2026 reached a different conclusion. Review the options as originally assessed →

Are we opposing the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme?

No, and we never were. We fully support new stations and electrification. Many of us accepted significant disruption during Phase 1 construction because we believe in public transport. We objected to one specific decision: the choice of route for a staff access road when less harmful alternatives had been assessed and scored within a narrow margin.

What about the trees?

The mature native oak and ash on the Option 7 route are still standing. Oak and ash are native Irish species and their ecological value — as habitat for bats, nesting birds, and invertebrates — has to be assessed before any felling is authorised anywhere on the scheme. Independent survey work along the corridor identified five Annex IV bat species and two Red-listed bird species, Yellowhammer and Snipe. Irish Rail has confirmed that environmental surveys are continuing to inform the Environmental Impact Assessment.