Transport « Thurles Information

Serious Car Crash At Kickham Street Thurles

Residents of Kickham Street, Thurles, were awakened in the early hours of this morning when a car collided into the front wall of a house at Kyle Terrace in the town.

An Ambulance, Police and Fire Brigade were called to the scene and the single vehicle involved was removed.

It is understood that no serious injuries were sustained as a result of the collision; however considerable damage was done to the front fascia of the house struck by the vehicle.

This is the fourth accident on this stretch of roadway between Drish Bridge and Cathedral Street since May 2012, two of which accidents regrettably ended in the tragic death of two people.

Injured Horse Left To Die On Tipperary Public Road.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

“Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” – Proverbs 12:10.

Our picture shows an abandoned horse on the side of the road, severely injured, having apparently collided with a parked car on the N8, just outside of Cahir, Co Tipperary some days ago.

Members of the Irish travelling community are believed to have left the horse to die, after they crashed the animal and a Sulky it into the back of a parked black Volkswagen Polo while training or racing. The animal, which was abandoned while still alive, later died from what we understand was a sustained broken neck and other injuries.

Those involved are believed to have been members of the Irish travelling community who race horses; towing lightweight, two-wheeled, single-seat carts along busy main roads for considerable financial wagers. This sport has provoked much controversy in recent years; with campaigners arguing that sulky racing not only compromises the safety of pedestrians, their drivers, motorists, but also the welfare of those animals participating.

South Tipperary County Council has now been asked to ratify the Control of Horses Act 1996 at its upcoming meeting expected on Monday next.

Cork County Council in the past have proposed strengthening current legislation; recommending that those racing wear high visibility jackets, have anti-roll bars fitted and that riders require permission to travel prior to exercising these animals on our public roads.

However the cruelty demonstrated in this particular event on the N8, is truly unprecedented and totally repugnant to 95% of people residing in the county.
Gardaí at Cahir are appealing for information.

North Tipperary Business Network Ireland Awards

MMC Design

Three individual ladies from north Co Tipperary have all been short listed for the Network Ireland Awards expected to be held in Cork next month.

They include a Cookery School Proprietor, a Fashion Designer and the General Manager of a Car Dealership.

Sarah Baker: Nominated in the ‘Emerging Business‘ category, Sarah set up the Cloughjordan House Cookery School & Events Venue back in 2009 and today employs seven full-time staff together with some part-time staff. Sarah Baker has also expanded into the Wedding business and is offering Cooking Classes to Transition Year students.

Marion Murphy Cooney: Nominated in the ‘Established Business‘ category, Marion operates as a fashion designer producing ‘made to measure’ pieces. Based in Friar Street, Nenagh, Marion, trading as MMC, has also introduced a ‘ready to wear’ collection, currently on sale through a number of other fashion boutique outlets.

Fiona Connolly: Nominated in the ‘Employee’ category, Fiona is currently General Manager of the car dealership Lyons of Nenagh and is head of marketing for the Lyons Group in Limerick taking care of the brands; Landrover, Ford, Volvo and Jaguar in the Mid-West region.

Earlier this year these three businesswomen won their respective categories at the Network North Tipperary Business Women of the Year Awards, sponsored and promoted this year by AIB and the North Tipperary County Enterprise Board.

Major Delays To Thurles Traffic From Monday

At present, as Thurles residents are aware, water pipe laying works are currently being undertaken here in Liberty Square, in the town.

To further facilitate these works now approaching the River Suir Bridge (N75), and on into Cathedral Street and east into Kickham Street, it remains necessary to implement a one-way traffic management system. Same will consist of a Stop & Go System during construction working hours and reverting to Traffic Lights during non-construction hours. (Area to be affected shown in Red.)

To reduce traffic disruption, to a minimum, in Thurles Town Centre, a temporary traffic diversion route will come into effect around the town of Thurles. The purpose of this traffic diversion route is to minimise traffic crossing the Suir Bridge. Motorists are therefore advised to use the alternative routes and thus avoid this area. (School commuters take note.)

To this end diversion routes are advised as follows:

Thurles bound traffic travelling South on the M8 Motorway:- Traffic destined for the Northern side should follow the diversion signs, and proceed along the M8 and exit the M8 at Junction 6 (Horse and Jockey) to approach Thurles via the N62 (Slievenamon Road). Traffic destined for the Eastern side of Thurles town (i.e. not entering the Town Centre) should exit the M8 at Junction 5 (Two-Mile-Borris).

Thurles bound traffic travelling North on the M8 Motorway – Traffic destined for the West side of Thurles should exit the M8 at Junction 6 (Horse and Jockey) and approach Thurles via the N62 (Sleivenamon Road). Traffic destined for the Eastern side of Thurles town (i.e. not entering Liberty Square) should exit the M8 at Junction 5 (Two-Mile-borris).

Eastbound traffic from the North and West of Thurles – Traffic destined for the East travelling from the North and West side of Thurles should proceed to Thurles through Liberty Square and follow the diversion signs via the N62 to Junction 6 (Horse and Jockey) on the M8.

The above Temporary Traffic Management Plan will be in operation starting from 9:00am next Monday 9th September 2013 until completion of this necessary work.

David Walsh Civil Engineering Ltd. apologises for any inconvenience these works may cause and they greatly appreciate your patience and assistance during this period, when major delays can be expected.

In The Name Of God Who Needs Road Safety ?

Mother Nature badly let us down this year, well her and that interfering busybody and Chairman of the Road Safety Authority, Gay Byrne.

As a well respected Tipperary councillor, I feel it is my duty to remind you all that earlier this month Gay Byrne, accused the Government and in particular the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, of having little or no interest in road safety. Mr Byrne said that the lack of emphasis on road safety by the Government in general had him downcast and completely depressed. He also said he believed that Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has about as much interest in road safety as Gay himself did in snipe shooting. Byrne said: “Last year was the most successful year in terms of fatalities but it looks like now, steadily before our eyes, all the gains we’ve made in the last six or seven years are being lost.”

Now Gay, while you might be the most famous of broadcasters in Irish history and have had more influence on changing life in this county, than certainly any of our Tipperary political leaders, road safety issues in this area are something you do not want to be getting involved in.

Understand Gay, due to those 15 days of dry weather back last July, Mother Nature, as she is normally wont to do, failed us miserably in hiding completely all our road signs from the public gaze this year. You must be familiar with the Shakespearian phrase “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” You see Gay if we were to make our road signs available to the public’s gaze; the next thing that would happen is an influx of those nosey tourists sniffing around.

Here in Thurles, thanks be to God, due to no proper Tourism funding, poor marketing and North Tipperary Tourism Company Ltd (NTTCL), we never have to worry about tourists, and it helps when we as councillors also do our bit in making it difficult to drive around, through the use of concealed and confusing road signs. You can see from one directional sign in our video above, we cut one kilometre out of the centre of North Tipperary County Councils measuring tape, in the hope that the extra 1km would prove just 1km to far for outsiders.

North Tipperary Tourism Company Ltd are helping also by printing a new brochure again this year. No one has told them about the Internet yet and they haven’t worked out that if no visitors actually come to Thurles, there is no one to pick up their poor quality publication. Certainly tour operators at junket trade shows are not interested in our humble offerings of Thurles “Home of Erin Foods,” latter which closed down some seven years ago. Ah yes we here as councillors manage to successfully confuse most of the more daring of our would be world wayfarers, by pretending we still have a factory called Erin Foods left in the town. I personally believe if its Bisto gravy, Oxo gravy or Campbell’s soup these people are looking for, let them find out the hard way, before moving on elsewhere, hopefully never to return.

Yes there are some misguided, easily led individuals who have been fooled into placing adverts on the Internet, but ask yourself Gay, without laughing, if you were looking for a good bed & breakfast near Thurles on the Internet, would you type into Google’s search engine the words “Cantata2.” or Bed & Breakfasts Thurles, in the hope of finding one?

Thank God for Section 46 of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, which gives the Irish government an excuse for failing to use a Slash Hook around our local road signs, all in the interest of wildlife Health & Safety, during the months from February to September. What further proof do we need, yes “you sure can fool all the people all of the time.”

Just a thought; has anyone read a manual recently, explaining the operational mechanics of a Slash Hook and is there a Health & Safety Course available I wonder?

P/S. I hope my party colleagues Noel Coonan & Allan Kelly don’t see this, as they Key Fob Out and skip home early on some Friday evening. No I don’t think they will, sure they haven’t been seen or certainly contributed anything to Thurles since they were both elected.