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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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The N5 between Castlebar and Westport
A county councillor has said it ‘absolutely beggar’s belief’ that almost €100,000 was paid to remove signage from the old N5 from Westport to Castlebar.
Cllr Ger Deere has lashed out at the replacement of old road signs one what is now known as the R309.
The removal of signs was required as part of the development of the N5 dual carriageway and cost €97,578.05 plus VAT – approximately €2,700 per junction.
Directional signage is now only to be provided at the L1710 Clonkeen, L1813 Aughagower and L1811 Islandeady junctions. The former two junctions had previously been omitted.
Local road plate numbers are provided at all other junctions.
Chapter 2 of the Traffic Signs Manual ‘Directions Information Sings’ specifies that directional signage at a regional/local road junction should only be provided at local primary roads.
Cllr Deere took issue with the cost of the removal of signs which he said had been there ‘for generations’.
“They took down signs that were there for generations that identified place names and townlands, gone with a bloody number,” Cllr Deere remarked at the recent meeting of Mayo County Council.
“It’s probably well over €100,000 to take them down and replace them. What €100,000 would have done for a community. Out in Islandeady we were told it would cost €250,000 to build a wall. Jesus you’d build a wall from here to Timbuktu…with that €100,000.”
The Fine Gael councillor said that it ‘beggar’s belief’ that the old signs were replaced at such a cost and demanded to know who was responsible.
Fianna Fáil councillor Martin McLoughlin said that the community of Islandeady were ‘outraged’ at having their old signage removed.
Cllr Deere was also supported by Cllr Michael Kilcoyne (Independent) and Cllr Brendan Mulroy (Fianna Fáil).
Tom Gilligan, Mayo County Council’s Director of Services for Roads, said that the removal of the old signs was part of the normal procedure for delivering new roads.
Mr Gilligan did not know what was done with the old signs following their removal.
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