Cork City Council has been forced to close a pedestrian bridge after joyriders made a hole in the floor of it when they tried to cross it on a stolen scissors lift.
According to Cork City Council, it was left with no option but to close the Mary Elmes Bridge across the north channel of the river Lee for safety reasons after several wooden decking panels were damaged during the incident on Sunday night.
“Cork City Council are working hard to get the bridge reopened as soon as possible with a view to having temporary risk-mitigation measures in place and access reinstated as soon as possible. The full cost of repairs is still being assessed,” the council said as it apologised for any disruption.
The bridge, which is named after Cork woman Mary Elmes, who was known as the Irish Oskar Schindler for her work in Vichy France saving 200 Jewish children from concentration camps, was opened in 2019 by the then lord mayor of Cork, Mick Finn.
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The 66m steel structure links Merchants Quay in the city centre with St Patrick’s Quay and MacCurtain Street on the north side. It is used by 11,000 pedestrians and cyclists daily, with people making an estimated 3.9 million annual crossings.
The bridge was damaged when joyriders stole a scissors lift on St Patrick’s Quay at around 8.30pm on Sunday. They tried to cross the bridge to enter the city centre, where they drove the vehicle around the streets before being apprehended by gardaí on South Gate Bridge.
Scissors lifts, which are used to access heights in a similar way to a cherry picker, can reach speeds of up to 10km/h when the platform remains folded down, as in this incident.
Two men have since appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon in connection with the incident. Garda Paul McCarthy gave an outline of the alleged facts of the case and told Cork District Court that the actions of the two accused had caused serious damage to the flooring of the bridge.
“Concerningly, damage was caused to part of the bridge floor which fell into the river leaving a large hole on the bridge floor. Pedestrians were left at risk of falling directly into the river as a result of this damage and it had to be sealed off for public safety.”
Kyle Boyle (31), with an address c/o of the Simon Community, was accused of causing criminal damage to the bridge, as well as damaging a metal bollard at Oliver Plunkett Street and five counts of dangerous driving of the mechanical vehicle around the city.
Mr Boyle, a native of Donegal, was called by his solicitor Eddie Burke to give evidence in his application for bail. He apologised to the court for his actions on the night, saying “four of us were very, very intoxicated. I am very sorry. I want to put it behind us and move on”.
Mr Burke told Judge Mary Dorgan it was not Mr Boyle’s driving that caused the damage to the bridge but simply the weight of the scissors lift, which proved too heavy for the wooden flooring.
A second accused Patrick Costin (18), also with an address c/o the Simon Community, was charged with criminal damage and unlawful carriage. Garda McCarthy in his evidence described him as “a willing and exuberant participant in this”.
Mr Costin admitted he had been drinking on the scissors lift but his solicitor, Killian McCarthy, said “he would have had no control over what happened in relation to the criminal damage – he also disputes cheering loudly in a celebratory manner”.
Judge Dorgan said she had not seen any of the online videos that captured the scissors lift being driven around the city but from the evidence said it was a shocking catalogue of alleged dangerous driving on roads and footpaths.
She refused bail and remanded both men in custody to appear again at Cork District Court on November 11th.
