A judge in Cork has granted an injunction preventing promoters from going ahead with a funfair which they proposed to hold in a marquee the size of Croke Park. Judge John Clifford said evidence had been given that the funfair, on land at the Carrigrohane Straight near the city, would pose a serious traffic hazard. Applications for injunctions to prevent the event from going ahead were lodged in court this morning.
At a special sitting of Cork Circuit Court, lawyers for Cork County Council and for a couple living adjacent to the proposed site sought an injunction preventing the funfair from going ahead. They objected on the grounds of nuisance, traffic and access for emergency services.
The promoters of the Winter Wonderland Funfair, brothers Trevor and Bobby Cullen, had promised it would be one of the most spectacular fairs Cork had ever seen. Housed in an 85-foot high marquee, it's organisers promised attractions like a wheel of death as well as 10 other rides. They claimed to have lined up a Hollywood stuntman who appeared in movies such as Saving Private Ryan and the James Bond film Golden Eye, to perform as a human cannonball.
They said they were willing to "do whatever it took" to allow the funfair to go ahead, including paying the garda overtime bill. But they had prepared no safety statement and said they didn't think it was going to be a dangerous safety hazard.
Judge John Clifford said he would have preferred to have laid down conditions to be complied with but he didn't have that discretion. The law was the law and he had to grant the injunction preventing the funfair from going ahead because of the safety concerns that had been raised.
The funfair was due to run from St Stephen's Day to January 17th and the promoters say they now stand to lost almost £70,000.
