Anna Marie Flynn
THE Minister for Transport has advised Ballina to back a new design for the N26 – stating that the alternative - a legal challenge over the refused route - will be both expensive and time consuming.
Last Friday, Minister Noel Dempsey travelled to Ballina for crunch talks on the N26 following the overwhelmingly negative local reaction to the decision by An Bord Pleanala to turn down the second phase of the project from Carrentrilla to Bohola.
At a meeting held in the Town Council Chamber, he told a group of delegates - led by Junior Minister Dara Calleary and including members of the County Council, Ballina Town Council, Balina Trades Council and Chamber of Commerce – that the ‘government remains committed’ to the project, but indicated that a new plan is the way forward.
Minister Calleary told The Mayo News that the Minister’s position on the issue was clear in that ‘all the stakeholders, including the Minister, are now committed to work together to move ahead with this project for the good of the county and the region’.
