Achill family to give evidence to European Commission on daughters death

Achill family to give evidence to European Commission on daughter’s tragic road death


Anton McNulty

THE European Commission will hear evidence from the family of Achill woman, Aisling Gallagher, who died in a traffic accident outside Mulranny in 2005.
The Gallagher family will travel to Brussels today to give evidence to the commission’s investigation team, which will be heard on tomorrow (Wednesday). The move by the commission follows a request in June from the EU’s Committee on Petitions that it begin an investigation into the maintenance of non-national roads here by local authorities.
The evidence will mark a milestone for the Gallagher family who have campaigned to have the death of their daughter fully investigated. Aisling (22) died when she lost control of her car on a stretch of road outside Mulranny in December 2005.
At the time, the road, where Mayo County Council was carrying out resurfacing works, was coated with a temporary road surface, deep bitumen macadam (DBM), which is notoriously slippery without a chipped gripping surface on top.
The NRA guidelines clearly state that a DBM surface ought to be subject to a 50kph speed limit but the road Aisling was travelling on had a speed limit of 100kph and there were no warning signs in place. Her family have campaigned for her death to be fully investigated and the inquest into her death has yet to be heard.
The Commission will also hear evidence from the families of Sinead McDaid from Donegal and Eileen Keane from Kerry who died in similar circumstances. Fine Gael MEP, Jim Higgins (pictured) called on the Government to take responsibility for the conditions of our roads particularly at local level and to transpose the EU Directive on Road Infrastructure Safety Management.
“Urgent action is needed to prevent further needless loss of life. It's about time our government stopped dragging its heels and adopted a proactive approach to road safety. This directive needs to be implemented and the government needs to set technical standards for the inspection of public roads and the amending of safety defects. 
“All three families tragically lost a daughter, primarily due to the failure of their local authorities to provide adequate warning signs for oncoming road hazards and speed restrictions as required by the National Roads Authority.
“These girls were young with their whole lives ahead of them - they were neither drunk, speeding nor had they taken any illegal substances.  They were not given the opportunity to react to what lay ahead and were robbed of their futures. Their deaths could have been avoided merely by their local authorities fulfilling their mandatory duty under NRA guidelines,” he said.