People in Kilkenny are 'risking lives every day on this road'

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(Full write-up below / All pics by Joe Cashin)

A massive crowd of almost 500 people gathered in South Kilkenny on Monday to demand immediate safety measures on a stretch of the N25 road that has claimed 12 lives in 20 years — leaving many more injured, bereaved and traumatised.

One of the meeting attendees lost her beloved aunt in a road traffic accident at the very entrance to the hotel where the meeting was held.

A question she posed, and a question undoubtedly on the mind of many others in attendance, was: “When is something actually going to be done?”

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News had broken before the meeting yesterday from TDs John McGuinness and party colleague Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere that Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien 'intends to fund the project next year to complete the route selection on this road'.

Despite this development, the meeting heard from Kilkenny County Council’s Chief Executive Lar Power that even with this confirmation, the completion of any new road would be at least six years away, and that’s with ‘a good wind behind it’.

N25 Road Safety committee campaigner Bernie Mullally said that ‘the people present here carry the trauma’ and stated that the committee is ‘angry and upset’ that they had to ‘fight and lobby’ for this ‘long overdue investment’.

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Fellow committee member PJ Griffin told those in attendance that he ‘witnessed firsthand a near fatal accident at Ballinclare junction’.

“My own mother prayed with a victim dying in their car,” he added.

Mr Griffin directed criticism at Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), who are responsible for the planning, supervision, safety, maintenance, and operation of the national roads network in Ireland, which includes both national primary and national secondary roads.

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In advance of the meeting, he stated that he received a letter from the state agency to say that they ‘couldn’t attend’ due to ‘staff constraints’.

He also raised concern over a recent road traffic study that found that a stretch of the N25 recorded more than 17,000 vehicles over a 24 hour period.

His concern was acknowledged by the Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council, who confirmed that the road was ‘operating beyond its capacity’.

Road planning consultant Dermot Donovan noted that the ‘killed/severely injured index is higher on the N25 than on similar roads’.

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One of the largest causes for applause came from Ger Carthy, a Wexford councillor with huge experience in the ambulance service, who stated that ‘TII want to be in charge of everything but responsible for little or nothing’.

“We need to stop the carnage on this road,” he said. “With the best will in the world it will probably be 2030 [by the time the new road is built].”

Speaking on behalf of local farmers was Alice Doyle, Deputy President of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).

She said she spoke to one local farmer who was ‘almost rear-ended turning into a junction with a silage trailer’, another who experienced constant overpassing on dangerous stretches of road, and one farm family who wait in fear for their daughter to return home from college in the evenings.

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Brendan Crowley, who represents the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland (CTTC) stated that ‘the number of vehicles will continue to grow’.

“It’s frightening how close we come to near misses,” he said, before calling for the need to alter the existing speed limit.

Mr Crowley also raised the economic impact of regular road closures, as well as the ‘severe’ congestion problems that they cause.

He further noted that the €100 million sum flagged by the Kilkenny County Council Chief Executive as the approximate cost of building the new road ‘is nothing — not in today’s money’.

John Nolan of the Irish Road Hauliers Association described the meeting as merely ‘the start of a journey’ and ‘not the end of one’.

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“We have to keep the pressure on,” he said. “I’ve never been in a room like this.”

He called upon Kilkenny County Council to press TII to reduce the speed limit to 80km/hr — stating that something similar had been done in The Glen of the Downs area in Wicklow, ‘where the national road goes from 100km/hr to 80km/hr and back to 100km/hr again’.

Stephen Hartley, a local bus driver, says that he uses the back roads now, due to dangerous overtaking on the N25, where travelling at 80km/hr isn’t enough for many drivers behind him.

The founder of the Irish Road Victims’ Association (IRVA), Donna Price, attended the meeting in a bid to represent bereaved families.

“It can happen to anybody,” she said. “Nobody knows what’s coming around the corner. I hope that this movement is a catalyst for change. The time for talking is over.”

Sandra Whelan, an attendee from nearby Curraghmore, asked about the timeline surrounding short‑term measures that would improve safety on the current stretch of the N25 as it stands.

Ann Doherty from Slieverue, who stated that she had suffered a family loss due to a road accident, said that people in the community are ‘risking our lives every day on this road’.

Another local person to speak was Trisha Bradfield from Glenmore, who called for improved traffic diversion routes and management in the event of accidents.

Superintendent Gavin Hegarty noted that the scene of an accident ‘is not a pleasant place to be’.

Hegarty also stressed the need for improved driver behaviour, and noted a comment raised by a member of the public gallery who stated that he sees many people using their phones in their cars on the stretch of N25 in question.

He put it to the meeting that statistically there would be people in the room attending the road safety meeting that would also use their phone while driving.

Noting that the gardaí operate under ‘finite’ resources, he stated that local gardaí would do all that they could to patrol the road.

The meeting ended with further pleas for immediate short‑term measures to be introduced, to which the Council’s Chief Executive stated ‘we will commit to do what we can do’.

Chief Executive Lar Power also continually stressed throughout the meeting that the cooperation of TII would be integral to this goal and further long‑term aims.

Wrapping up proceedings was committee member PJ Griffin, who asked: “If not now, when? After the next funeral? After the next knock on the door?”

A follow‑up public meeting on the N25 Waterford to Glenmore road safety campaign will be held in September.