Demand for pedestrian crossing at Carrickabruise National School

The need for a pedestrian crossing at Carrickabruise NS has, once again, been put on the agenda by Cllr Shane P. O’Reilly who has said that he will not take no for an answer this year on the project.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District Authority, the Fianna Fáil councillor also expressed his disappointment that it was not given Clár funding.
Located off the N3, the local community has done a lot of fundraising to enhance facilities at the school complex.
Cllr O’Reilly said that there was a great relationship with the council and footpath was put in place.
He pointed out that a high volume of traffic traverses the route past the school, which increases the danger to the pupils attending the school and pupil numbers have increased year on year.
“The pedestrian crossing needs to be put in place to link up with the new footpath that had been installed,” said Cllr O’Reilly.
He added that the campaign for the crossing dates back five or six years, it it had not made the cut for Clár funding, which he said was “very wrong”.
Also speaking on the motion, Cllr Paddy O’Reilly (FF) said he had been approached by a member of the Parents Association in relation to road safety at the school as a result of “horrendous” traffic volumes.
He also called for the footpath on the left hand side to be extended as far as Virginia Transport. His party colleague, Paddy Smith, also spoke in support of the motion.
Director of Services Eoin Doyle was hopeful that the crossing would be provided under the forthcoming round of Clar funding - deadlines for which have not yet been finalised.
When pressed by Cllr Paddy O’Reilly that the work at Carrickabruise would be done this year, Mr Doyle replied: “I can’t guarantee that. I am just saying we will assess it as part of the list. We will look at the totality of all the requests and prioritise them and try and include it.”
Cllr Shane P O’Reilly said that wasn’t good enough. “I don’t think it is fair to say to the school body ‘live horse and you will get grass’. We have been talking about this for a long time and I do feel it is something that needs to be prioritised.”
Mr Doyle again repeated that the council could give no guarantee.
“I’m not going to take no for an answer... I’m going to make an issue out of this. I’m sick of it. It is going on far too long,” said Cllr Shane P O’Reilly.