'People Will Not Stand For Being Ignored And Hushed Up' - Councillor

By Zoe Tunney

Tuesday 14th March 2006

(by kind permission of the Donegal Democrat)

Members of the public will be forced to take alternative action if they don't secure a meeting with the National Roads Design Office, it was claimed at a meeting held to discuss the controversial N15 by-pass in Ballyshannon.

Fine Gael County Councillor Barry O'Neill called and chaired the meeting which was attended by up to 100 local residents and business people. Only two other Ballyshannon councillors, Sinn F�in's PJ Branley and Fine Gael Councillor Eugene Dolan, turned up.

The first revelation of the evening came when someone claiming to represent the three Fianna Fail members of Ballyshannon Town Council told the meeting the councillors had not showed because they didn't receive an invitation.

Clr O'Neill said that was impossible since their party colleague on Bundoran Town Council, Sean McEniff received an invitation and sent his apologies for being unable to attend while Green Party Bundoran Town Councillor, Florence Doherty, came to the meeting as a member of the public.

Members of the public also expressed anger at the lack of response from the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the engineers in the National Roads Design Office (NRDO) in the Donegal Service Centre.

It was decided that if the local council did not get satisfactory answers to questions about safety and traffic congestion then local people will take "other action." "There will be demonstrations or some other form of protest because people will not stand for being ignored and hushed up," Councillor PJ Branley said.

Barry O'Neill said the public demand a meeting with the NDRO within two weeks or they would "be forced to take other action."

Clr O'Neill said his previous requests for a meeting with the NRDO engineers have been ignored. He read aloud from the minutes of a Donegal County Council meeting on February 8 which Aidan O'Doherty, the Senior Engineer with NRDO, Executive Engineer, Damien McDermott and Senior Resident Engineer, Hugh Fox failed to attend.

"So far we have had our requests turned down, meetings postponed or else they send apprentices to meet councillors. I don't want to take the hand out of young fellas just out of college, we need to meet the men in charge," Clr O'Neill said.

NRDO engineers met with councillors at the Donegal Service Centre yesterday. Members of the Ballyshannon Town Council also met with Messrs. Fox, O'Doherty and McGlynn of the NDRO last week.

Independent Councillor, Pat O'Malley said they were given assurances from the engineers that they would address the councillors' concerns.

"That is all they can do at this late stage," Clr O'Malley said, "It's too late to start re-drawing plans."

The controversial junction on the N3 Belleek Road, issues affecting the Nather area of the town, personal issues like noise levels and fencing and the issue of safety were on the agenda for discussion.

Clr. O'Neill was first alerted to the possible safety and traffic congestion problems when he noticed a two metre high concrete barrier being erected along the median of the bypass.

The public consultation process was also called into question again. In 2000, the plans for the N15 Sligo to Ballyshannon bypass were made available to the public in Dorrian's Hotel. A model of the new bypass is currently on view in Colaiste Colmcille in the town.

In another shock revelation it emerged the cement barrier does not exist on the model now on view causing many at the meeting to ask why the plans do not match those being followed by the contractor.

Clr PJ Branley said: "We are victims of the design and build programme. The NDRO plan something in the morning and the contractors build it in the afternoon.

"I was involved in the public consultation and at the time the designers told us we needed intersections and junctions when we didn't. They made it more complicated than it needed to be and they made us think it was an impossible feat to get what we wanted. They told us lies to get the design they wanted through," Clr Branley added," For Mary Coughlan to tell us it will be OK until 2024 is just unbelievable."

Two votes were taken at the meeting. People were asked to vote on whether a roundabout should be erected at the Belleek Road junction. This would alleviate traffic congestion and correct the safety concerns. While some abstained from the vote almost all elected to have the problem sorted.

Another vote to decide whether the bypass should be opened by the original May 12 deadline despite all the problems found that most people did not want the bypass to go ahead.

When asked why there was such a poor attendance by local councillors, Clr Eugene Dolan and PJ Branley agreed to seek an emergency meeting of Ballyshannon Town Council this week.

"There is a feeling among local people that councillors are not treating this seriously enough," Clr O'Neill told the Democrat/DPP. "They are also not happy with the comments made by Minister Mary Coughlan that the bypass is good to go and it will be reviewed in 2024."





This article has been produced here by the kind permission of The Donegal Democrat




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