Councillor takes NRA to task

Councillor accuses NRA of gross negligence


Anton McNulty

THE National Roads Authority has been accused of gross negligence and failing to take the safety of the road-user into consideration when it allocated funding for the resurfacing of a section of road along the N59 between Mulranny and Newport.
Last month, work began on the €700,000 resurfacing project of a stretch of the N59 at Newfield, Tiernaur, despite lobbying from local representatives and Council engineers to prioritise the funding for a section of the N59 which they say is one of the most dangerous sections of the road. The section of road in question is about a mile further east on the Newport side of Tiernaur, and has been described as an accident-prone spot because of the narrowness of the road and the uneven surface.
Local councillor, Michael Holmes, explained to The Mayo News that a number of local people have approached him and expressed their annoyance and concern that this section of the road had not been prioritised. While welcoming any investment in the N59, he said the section of road currently being upgraded was not in urgent need of resurfacing, and slammed the NRA for what he described as ‘inefficient allocation of funding’.
“Despite our strong requests and recommendations, the NRA refused to move works further east towards Newport, where the severely substandard condition of the road has contributed to numerous accidents. Mayo County Council engineers met with NRA engineers, and stressed to them that the area of the road that they had earmarked was not in urgent need of resurfacing, particularly in comparison to a section of the road just a mile away,” he said.
Cllr Holmes added that he was in contact with the NRA and he said the explanation given by them was that they wanted to continue the resurfacing of the N59 at the location which was last resurfaced. Cllr Holmes said that one of the objectives of the NRA was to improve road safety and by ignoring the requests of the Council engineers, he claimed the NRA’s actions were negligent.
“This inefficient allocation of funding is putting lives at risk. Surely, the NRA should make it a priority to deal with the most dangerous blackspots on our roads, and it now remains to be seen if and when this section of the road will be resurfaced. They did mention the possibility of including it in next year’s budget. However, in the current economic climate and cutbacks in public spending, it appears doubtful that this will be the case,” concluded Cllr Holmes.