Cattle let loose on road near Crossmolina after pyrite-contaminated wall collapses

CATTLE were let loose onto a road near Crossmolina after a wall built with pyrite-contaminated blocks collapsed.

Local councillors have called on Mayo County Council to replace the wall which straddles the N59 road to Erris outside Crossmolina.

The wall was constructed after the N59 was widened several years ago. It has subsequently deteriorated due to pyrite; a contaminant that has ruined hundreds of houses throughout Mayo.  

A wire fence has since been erected to keep the cattle from walking onto the road.

Cllr John O’Hara says that the fence was ‘not the answer’ and called for the wall to be fully replaced by the council.

“Anyone that knows anything about cattle, they’ll come to where they see the soft spot. A bit of wire, that’s not the answer,” he told the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council.

Tom Gilligan, Mayo County Council’s Director of Services for Roads, said the local authority could not replace the wall.

Local Crossmolina-based councillor Michael Loftus agreed that the wall should be replaced, saying the responsibility laid with Mayo County Council and not with the contractor.

Cllr Loftus told The Mayo News that the local authority should either replace the wall or compensate the landowner to construct a new wall.

Fianna Fáil county councillors Damien Ryan and Martin McLoughlin lent their support to Cllr O’Hara’s request.

Cllr McLoughlin said: “The people gave their land, they gave it to Mayo County Council. Them walls were built by Mayo County Council, the staff were contracted. It just so happens that the blocks were faulty.”

Councillors requested a costing to replace the wall before their April meeting.

_{A wall along the N59 outside Crossmolina weakened by pyrite}