Persistent road safety issues and dangerous driving in Portumna, Loughrea and the surrounding villages were a key issue raised by councillors at the October meeting of the Loughrea Municipal District.
Voicing growing frustration with the lack of progress on long-running road safety issues in the municipal district, councillors called for serious action to be undertaken.
Cllr Ivan Canning (FF ) raised concerns about excessive speeding through Portumna, recounting a serious incident where “a car ploughed through a pole at the pedestrian crossing on Main Street.” Stating that it was “by the grace of God someone wasn’t killed,” Cllr Canning said the estimated €55,000 cost to upgrade the crossing to a traffic light system would be “not much compared to a life lost.”
Cllr Canning also highlighted another accident at the “Green Door” junction in Portumna, calling for better signage and renewed communication with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII ). “Every meeting we talk about it, we have to do something before a tragedy happens,” he said.
The TII was invited by the elected representatives to attend a municipal district meeting to discuss the continuing issues on the N65. Following its decision not to attend the meeting, Cllr Jimmy McClearn (FG ) condemned the organisation, describing it as “appalling”.
“One of the roles of a local representative is to hold State bodies to account. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is no one from the TII present today, and I think it is appalling. Appalling that the roads have been left in the state that they are in, and that, as local representatives of those affected by this, being ignored by State bodies for what is now going on for the past 14 months, is appalling.
“We are quite civilised, we are just looking for answers from them, and to think they don’t have the courtesy to come to our meeting is appalling,” said Cllr McClearn.
Cllr McClearn urged focus on “driver behaviour,” arguing that “it’s not so much the speed limits as it is awareness. People are in such a hurry to get to what?”
Cllr Paul Killilea (FG ) demanded urgent safety measures for pedestrians, particularly near community facilities and schools. He cited multiple recent accidents and near-misses, saying “it beggars belief that we have infants weaving through cars to get to the community centre.”
While praising the work of engineer Paula Higgins, Killilea insisted, “We can’t wait for long-term solutions; we need short-term fixes alongside them.”
Cllr Geraldine Donohue (IND ) supported the call, while council executive Derek Troy confirmed that a transport study for Kinvara and other towns was under way, funded by the NTA. “The study will point towards main street improvements,” Troy said, though he admitted no direct funding for construction had yet been secured.
This article is funded by Comisiún na Meán.
