Preferred route for N5 Westport to Bohola finally approved

Preferred route for N5 Westport to Bohola finally approved


Michael Duffy

THE preferred route for the new N5 dual carriageway from Westport to Bohola was finally given the go-ahead by a full meeting of Mayo County Council yesterday (Monday).
The adoption of the route had appeared on the agenda of the February meeting of the Council, much to the annoyance of some Castlebar councillors as discussions with a family in the Breaffy area regarding the demolition of their home to facilitate the building of the road had not reached a conclusion at that stage.
However, in the last month there have been further discussions with the Murphy family who live in Doogary, close to Breaffy village, and the councillors are now happy that the family in question were satisfied after these intense negotiations.
The family had requested that a neighbouring house belonging to another member of the family also be demolished so that both houses could be relocated elsewhere, but Mr Joe Beirne, County Engineer,  stated at a previous meeting that no guarantees with regard to the demolition of the second house could be given at this stage.
Councillors were warm in their praise at Monday’s meeting for the way in which the Murphy family had dealt with the matter, with Cllr Paddy McGuinness stating the family had withdrawn their objections ‘in the interests of the common good’.
The scheme now will be further developed into a preliminary design with accompanying Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The Statutory Orders and the EIS will be published prior to a public hearing into the proposals to be conducted by An Bord Pleanála.