Tourists’ route ‘unfit for driving’

Scenic Achill tourist route is ‘unfit for driving’


Anton McNulty

TOURISTS who travel down a scenic road along the Currane peninsula near Mulranny are turning back because the road is in such a deteriorated state, they think they are travelling on a bog road, according to a local councillor.
The two mile stretch of road going through the villages of Doughbeg and Cushlecka and into Mulranny had received €200,000 in CLÁR funding but this was later withdrawn and €50,000 for another part of the road at Belfarsad was also withdrawn in the emergency budget last April.
The majority of the road along the Currane peninsula had been upgraded in previous years but the section near Mulranny remains unfinished and according to Independent councillor Michael Holmes it is only a matter of time before there is an accident. He told The Mayo News that it is the worst road he has travelled on in the Belmullet Electoral Area.
“People in the area feel trapped within their own community, as the road leading out of the village either towards Achill or Mulranny is in a treacherous condition. Quite rightly, they are demanding that something is done about this road before one of their own becomes a victim to it,” he said.
He added that the road is signposted as a scenic route but feels it is not safe for visitors to travel on.
“It is crying out for urgent need for funds to repair it before someone gets badly injured. It is sign-posted as a scenic route and tourists are encouraged to go down it but time and again tourists are turning back because they think they have taken the wrong turn and are travelling on a bog road,” he said.
During the upgrade of the other sections of the road, tonnes of gravel and stone were brought along the road which Cllr Holmes claimed accelerated its deterioration. He claimed money would have been saved if a crusher was used to crush stones in local quarries and they would now have the money to spend on the road.
“If there is one thing they are not short of in Currane, it is stone and they should have used local stone instead of hauling tonnes of stone across half the county and damaging the roads. They spent in excess of €3 million on the road and if they had sourced the stone locally the full job would be done.”
He claimed the people using the road have been let down by both Minister Éamon Ó Cuív and Minister John Gormley for not releasing funds for the upgrade of the road, and called on Minister Gormley to be more flexible in relation to funding.
“I had discussions with the County Manager about the possibility of diverting funds from other projects in the area because the Government are not going to give extra funding. However, he said the Council have their hands tied on what they can spend because the Minister has not only cut funding but ringfenced how it can be spent. I would call on the Minister to be more flexible”