West Offaly locals incensed as removal of rail tracks could cause great damage
Cllr criticises Bord na Móna for 'not communicating with the people'
ON Monday morning a Bord na Móna contractor began removing some of the stacked rail tracks of the former Bog Railway between Clonmacnoise and Ballinahown in West Offaly, causing irritation and anger for many locals.
Cllr Hughie Egan, the newly elected Cathaoirleach of Birr Municipal District, told the MD's AGM on Monday afternoon that he had been called by a number of irate locals in that part of the county that morning because of the Bord na Móna contractor activity.
“I went out there this morning to see for myself what was happening,” the Cathaoirleach said. “It was in a townland called Clonascra between Clonmacnoise and Ballinahown.
“When I got there I saw that the Bord na Móna contractor's team was breaking up the old railway lines and was going to take them away from the area via an already very poor tarmac road known locally as the Pilgrim Road. This road is on a peat foundation and it's been in a very bad condition for years. It was the inevitable very serious damage to the peat road which would be caused by 30 tonne trucks travelling frequently on it over the next two weeks which was causing the sense of anger in the locals.”
He said the road is just north of the R444 and locals have been campaigning for a school bus to use it to collect 16 children. “At the moment the children are driven by their parents to Nally's Cross where the bus meets them, but there's a health and safety issue at Nally's Cross. It would be much better if the bus drove directly to the children's homes. People are worried that this BnM work will be catastrophic for the road, damaging it so badly that the bus just won't go down there.”
The rail track used to transport peat to Shannonbridge Power Station. The track has now been completely dismantled and Bord na Móna have employed a contractor to remove the tracks, now stockpiled on the bog, from the area.
The Councillor said he had been told a few weeks ago the removal works were going to happen. “I got on to Bord na Móna a few weeks ago about the proposed works. They were to come back to me but they never did.”
He added that this Clonascra incident is yet another example “of Bord na Móna's poor communications record. The company's communications with the people, time and again over the last few years, is very poor. It's at an all time low.”
He contrasted this with the ESB which is grant-funding Council improvement schemes. He urged BnM to take a leaf out of the ESB's book, which communicates better and seems to be giving back more to the communities.
After discussion between the BnaM contractor and Cllr Egan and seven locals on Monday morning, the contractor discontinued his work, indefinitely.