Councillors want Ryan to intervene over TII delays

< DAN DOONER

Members of Athlone Municipal District have called for Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to intervene in order to implement reduced speed limits on roads which run close to local schools.

A joint motion from the six members of the municipal district will be brought to the next full meeting of Roscommon County Council.

It comes as councillors expressed growing frustration with delays around road safety initiatives at Tuesday’s meeting.

The meeting heard that there were significant safety concerns at three local primary schools in particular –

Cornafulla NS, Ballybay NS and Mount Talbot NS.

Cllr John Naughten had earlier proposed writing to the National Transport Authority urging it to prioritise Cornafulla National School for funding under the Safe Schools Programme.

Members were told that the infrastructure office at An Taisce, which is over the programme, had completed the latest round of funding and Cornafulla was on a “subsequent list”. The motion was however forwarded to Tom McDermott, the Council’s Safe Routes to Schools point of contact.

Cllr John Keogh described the current situation at Cornafulla as dangerous and said speed limit reductions close to the school should be used as an imme- diate measure to make the area safer for pedestrians.

Cllr Laurence Fallon said there was a need for urgent safety measures at schools before an accident occurred, and asked whether members were wasting their time or “being made fools of”.

Venting his frustration, Cllr Donal Kilduff said: “I can’t believe we keep talking about the same stuff. It’s a no-brainer as part of Active Travel to have blanket speed limit reductions at schools.

“TDs have been introducing motions for years to reduce speed limits at schools. It doesn’t make any sense that it’s allowed to continue like this. The collective will of public representatives doesn’t seem to be sufficient to do anything about this”.

Cllr Tony Ward said he had met with the National Roads Authority on two separate occasions since 2004 to raise safety issues at Ballybay NS but said NRA officials didn’t visit the area when invited.

“There are still concerns around safety on the N61. We are still no further on in 2023 than we were in 2004,” he said.

“I can understand Donal Kilduff’s frustration…but just imagine how I feel!”

Members agreed to a joint motion calling on the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to instruct Transport Infrastructure Ireland to accept speed limit reductions at schools. It was agreed that the motion would be taken to the next Council meeting.