WATCH: Offaly residents bring road campaign to Minister Eamon Ryan on visit to county

THE people of Durrow made their strongest appeal yet for a new road between Kilbeggan and Tullamore when they met Transport Minister Eamon Ryan face-to-face this morning.

Charlie Kelleher, chair of the local development committee, reminded the Green Party leader that the proposal for a new N52 link through Durrow had already received Government approval.

"The road is extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous. There must be 20,000 cars a day passing," said Mr Kelleher.

People from Durrow, many holding placards, gathered outside the Sacred Heart School in Tullamore on Friday morning in advance of a visit there by Minister Ryan.

Mr Kelleher told the minister the junction of the N52 main road and the High Road in Durrow was especially dangerous, highlighting in particular the location of the primary school.

"We have pupils and teachers that are living in fear every day.  It's only a week ago, and it has happened on numerous occasions where the school bus has been delayed for up to 10 to 15 minutes because it has to cross the main road, the N52 to collect children up another road. Should that be happening?

"And while that's going on, and the bus is late, you have teachers and pupils living in fear that their colleagues haven't arrived yet, [wondering] has anything happened."

Mr Kelleher said it would not make sense to carry out another survey before going ahead with the new road, repeating that the project had previously been given the green light but had then been shelved.

"The only reason it isn't happening Minister is because you withdrew the funds when you were on a visit here last summer.  All we're asking for is for the process to continue.  We want the next phase to be financed now because this is done on a phased basis."

He made the point that if the next phase of the project is proceeded with, it would not require the Government to spend the full cost of the complete eight-kilometre road now.

"We're calling on you Minister to reinstate the funding to do that next phase."

Nonetheless, the road must be provided in its entirety, the local chair added.  "That eight kilometres, I believe, could save lives if it's done because at the end of the day lives are at risk."

Cllr Declan Harvey, chair of the Tullamore Municipal District, told the minister that 20 people had died on the road in the last 20 years.

"This need to [be done] to save lives.  There's a school, there's a church, there's a graveyard and there's a community centre there people use regularly for functions after a funeral and after Mass."

Cllr Harvey's Fianna Fail colleague, Cllr Tony McCormack, said there were also those who used the creche in Durrow, along with farmers and business people, all using the road.

"We've also got the Durrow High Cross Committee who've done a huge amount of work there.  They want to show off and educate people about St Colmcille. They want to put in an interpretive centre there, they want to bring back the Book of Durrow to its original home.

"They also want to show off the High Cross. They can't do this without the link road, they can't build the interpretive centre.

"Also, the Chamber of Commerce in Tullamore have been told by the IDA in order for us to attract foreign direct investment into the town we have to have a new road there so people can travel in and out an awful lot easier."

He said a lower speed limit on the road is required but it would lead to a traffic backlog "back as far as the motorway in Kilbeggan and back as far as Tullamore going the other way".

Cllr McCormack also reminded Minister Ryan that because it could be 2031 before the new road is finished, work on it should start immediately.

Cllr Neil Feighery, Fine Gael, said he had been working as a parliamentary assistant in the previous Government when Shane Ross was Transport Minister.

“We got this link road which had fallen off the agenda back on the agenda and a lot of the initial groundwork in terms of route selection was done and we were and the community were hugely hopeful that we would progress with this now,” said Cllr Feighery.

“The economy has never been stronger. We have a surplus budget. I really feel that from the point of view of the overall economic picture we have and the budgets coming into your department this is something we need you to prioritise.

“Our children deserve it, our elderly people deserve it and the whole community of Durrow needs this.”

Cllr Sean O'Brien, Independent, said the new road was extremely important and stressed the safety issue.

“The principal of the school made an impassioned plea to us at a meeting in Durrow. He said kids are coming in almost afraid to come into school, stressed. They could be sitting in their parents' car for a half an hour at the crossroads,” said Cllr O'Brien.

“We want that link to the M6 which gives us possibilities to go to Galway or Dublin and link to the M4 for business. Industry are telling us this that access is a huge problem.”

Cllr O'Brien added that the issue of the road had been raised the previous evening with Enterprise Minister Peter Burke when he was in Tullamore.

Minister Ryan also heard that the speed limit on the road will be reduced from 100kph to 80kph but local people had sought a cut to 60kph.

The minister was also told by local man PJ Lynam that all the landowners had agreed to hand over their land for compulsory purchase to allow the new road to go ahead.

Replying, Minister Ryan (pictured below by Ger Rogers) said he understood the concerns, particularly around road safety in Durrow and around the school.

“We'll go back and look at it as I think I said previously,” said Minister Ryan.

But he added: “I think we have to be careful not to give false promise because the truth is there's a massive roads programme and a whole range of different projects which are already at construction and which are for the next five, six or seven years are going to eat up the full budget, no matter who's in government.”

When the minister said the safety issue could now be addressed a number of the Durrow people present interrupted him and said they were asking for the entire link road project to be reinstated.

Minister Ryan replied: “It's not that roads aren't proceeding. TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) have a budget they have to manage within that. The allocation is done each year at the end of the year. It can't be done in the interim period.”

Minister Ryan's party colleague in Offaly, Minister of State Pippa Hackett, pointed out that €100,000 had been committed by the Department of Transport to review road safety in Durrow.

“That's something that can be done very shortly,” said Minister Hackett.

Minister Hackett was shouted down by a number of those present when she said the “number one priority” voiced at a public meeting in Durrow was safety.

When Mr Kelleher told Minister Ryan again that the funding was already in place for the new road, the Transport Minister responded: “We have to be honest with people. I've €100 bn of projects and we've €35 bn of funding and we have to be honest in terms of what is likely. There are roads projects that are being stalled that are in construction because we don't have the full budget available.”

Cllr Feighery made the point that the bypass for Adare got the go-ahead “very quickly when the Ryder Cup was coming” and Minister Ryan told him that project had been sought “for many decades”.

Minister Ryan said he had asked TII to examine the Durrow issue “through the road safety lens”.

“It's the most important immediate and urgent deliverable change that we can do and I commit to go back and listen and talk to TII as to how best we do that.”

Speaking to the Tullamore Tribune afterwards, Mr Kelleher said he was “not overwhelmed with confidence” after hearing Minister Ryan.

“I am delighted he said he'll have a look at it again and it's important that in any future reference to it the result is going to be a positive one and that the new link road will be installed,” said Mr Kelleher.

“We're not going to refuse any safety aspect that's going to be included but it's not the answer to the question and it won't improve the overall safety of that junction and road.”

He stressed that the first priority of what will be a six to seven-year project is that it now be moved to its next stage.

“We're going to keep it live. The community of Durrow is going to keep it live.”