Transport « Thurles Information

Road Alert – Temporary Traffic Controls On The R659 In Thurles

Motorists are advised that temporary traffic management measures will operate on the R659 through Stradavoher and Ballycarrane, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, from tomorrow, Thursday, 13th August, until Friday, 14th August 2026.

A Stop/Go traffic-control system will be in place for the duration of the works. Delays are expected, and road users should allow additional travel time when passing through the area.

Drivers are asked to approach with caution, follow all traffic-management signage and cooperate with personnel on site.

The Bike You Didn’t See – Drivers Urged to Look Again at Junctions

A brief pause at a junction could prevent a death on Ireland’s roads.

Above is the message behind a new Road Safety Authority campaign asking motorists to check twice for motorcycles before entering a road, particularly when pulling out from a T-junction.

Sixteen motorcyclists have already died on Irish roads this year, adding urgency to the campaign.
The danger often develops in an instant. A driver reaches a junction, checks both directions and begins to move. An approaching motorcycle, however, may have blended into the background or appeared farther away than it really was.

Unlike a car or van, a motorcycle occupies very little of a driver’s field of vision. This can make both its presence and its approaching speed difficult to judge during a quick check.
The RSA wants motorists to break that routine by pausing and looking once more before proceeding.

Evidence gathered between 2021 and 2025 shows why that extra check matters. During those five years, 954 motorcyclists suffered serious injuries, while 117 lost their lives. Around two-thirds of the riders seriously injured were involved in crashes with another vehicle.
Road Safety Authority confirm that failure to observe was the action most frequently identified in those multi-vehicle incidents. Junctions were also the scene of 38% of serious motorcyclist injuries.

The campaign arrives during a period when greater numbers of motorcycles are likely to be on the road. Drivers are being asked to approach junctions slowly, remove distractions and allow themselves enough time to make a proper assessment.
Motorcyclists may be smaller and less visible than other vehicles, but they have the same right to be seen and protected.

Before pulling out, pause and check again. The bike missed on the first look could be visible on the second.

Remove The Parking – Then Charge People To Park?

The removal of parking spaces is now harming town-centre businesses in both Cashel and Thurles.

Cllr Roger Kennedy recently raised the alarm at a meeting of the Tipperary – Cahir – Cashel Municipal District. He said road-realignment works in Cashel had removed 12 parking spaces, leaving fewer places for passing customers and discouraging people from stopping in to shop locally.

Thurles traders know this story only too well.
Successive traffic and public-realm changes have reduced town-centre parking, while the approved second phase of the Liberty Square scheme will remove further spaces.
Traders strongly opposed that plan, warning that it could damage businesses and put further jobs at risk. Nevertheless, it was proposed by Cllr Ms Peggy Ryan, seconded by Cllr Mr Seán Ryan and approved by the municipal-district members.
Against this background, Tipperary County Council is pressing ahead with countywide “harmonised” parking charges.

So who came up with that idea?
The review began following calls from Clonmel councillors. Former Director of Services, Mr Marcus O’Connor, promised the review, after which the council’s Infrastructure Strategic Policy Committee and officials developed the tiered charging system. The final Parking Bye-Laws 2026 were approved by the full County Council on 13th July 2026.

Background to the parking review.
Thurles already had paid parking, it dates back at least to the former Thurles Town Council’s 2005 bye-laws. In April 2025, the elected members of Thurles Municipal District adopted replacement bye-laws retaining paid parking in Thurles. The 2026 countywide scheme now places Thurles in Tier 2 and is intended to standardise parking charges across the county.

The council says parking charges encourage turnover and help make spaces available to shoppers. But that argument becomes increasingly difficult to accept when the council is simultaneously approving schemes that remove the very spaces shoppers need.

You cannot improve parking turnover in spaces that no longer exist.
You cannot encourage people to shop locally while making it progressively more difficult—and more expensive—for them to stop.
You cannot speak about revitalising town centres while ignoring traders who depend on passing customers and convenient short-stay parking.

The issue is not simply parking charges, nor is it simply the removal of spaces. It is the combined effect:

Fewer town-centre parking spaces.
Charges on much of what remains.
Increased competition from out-of-town retailers offering free parking.
Less convenience for older people and those with limited mobility.
Reduced passing trade for independent businesses.
Decisions proceeding despite strong concerns from local traders.

There was significant resistance even among councillors themselves. An amendment allowing municipal districts to provide a one-hour-free-parking option passed by only 19 votes to 17. That close vote shows how divided elected representatives were over the council executive’s original 20-minutes-free proposal.

Cashel and Thurles need a joined-up parking policy based on the actual number of spaces available, business needs, accessibility and independently measured town-centre footfall, not a one-size-fits-all charging exercise.

Before further spaces are removed or new charges take effect, Tipperary County Council should publish:

The total number of spaces removed in each town during the past five years.
The number due to be removed under approved schemes.
The expected effect on footfall and local businesses.
Current occupancy and turnover figures.
A clear plan for replacement parking.
The names and recorded votes of councillors who approved the relevant schemes and bye-laws.

Local businesses are being asked to survive with fewer customers, fewer convenient spaces and additional parking costs.
That is not town-centre regeneration, but rather an obstacle to it.

Traffic Notice – Streets of Thurles 5K Road Race.

The Thurles Crokes A.C. Streets of Thurles 5K Road Race will take place on Sunday, 16th August 2026, from 10:00am to 11:30am.

Traffic Notice and Route: Streets of Thurles 5K Road Race.

Traffic restrictions and diversions will be in place throughout Thurles town for the duration of this popular event.
Motorists should expect delays and are advised to allow extra time for their journeys or use alternative routes where possible.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Thurles, Co. Tipp: Where Road Signs Take The Hits And Relief Roads Take Forever.

Thurles, Co. Tipperary has apparently developed an innovative transport policy; to force enormous juggernauts through streets designed when the principal form of heavy traffic had four legs and ate hay.

**Available to view on Mill Road, Thurles, one of two signs within metres of each other, **originally** warning of a dangerous junction and dangerous bends.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

The predictable result can be seen in the accompanying, undeniable video shown hereunder; for months damaged signs, battered street furniture, demolished walls, uprooted and dinged bollards and not surprisingly yet another enormous bill waiting for the over-stretched ratepayer.

If the claim that 90% of signs are seriously damaged is to be stated as fact, Tipperary County Council should immediately conduct and publish a proper survey.
What is already beyond dispute is that the council; not passing motorists or magical road-sign fairies, is totally responsible for maintaining signs on local and regional roads.

Video courtesy of G. Willoughby. (Feel free to copy/share).

Local residents may know every turn in Thurles by instinct, by memory and generations of experience, but tourists, delivery drivers and other non locals do not.
They depend on clear, visible signs to identify directions, restrictions and hazards.

Damaged or unreadable signage is therefore more than an embarrassment; it creates a genuine road-safety concern, particularly where unfamiliar drivers must make sudden decisions while navigating narrow, heavily trafficked streets. The Road Safety Authority expressly identifies regulatory, warning and information signs as essential guidance for tourists using Irish roads.
Visitors should receive directions, not an unscheduled navigation exam, with a juggernaut approaching from the opposite direction.

For years, Thurles residents have heard about an Inner Relief Road and an Outer Bypass.
The council’s 2024 – 2030 Local Area Plan still describes both as projects for which funding must be secured. The Inner Relief Road alone is intended to provide a 1.1-kilometre connection between the N62 and Mill Road, while the proposed bypass would link the N62, N75 and R498.

In 2025, only €100,000 was allocated to progress the Inner Relief Road’s detailed design. That is progress in the same sense that buying a doormat means your house is nearly built.

Mr Michael Lowry TD, Mr Alan Kelly TD and Mr Ryan O’Meara TD must now provide the public with something more useful than announcements, photographs and recycled assurances.

The evidence for action is already visible on the road. Official data published for the N62 at Turtulla records an average of 9,539 vehicle movements every day.
More importantly, Tipperary County Council’s own Thurles Local Transport Plan concludes that the proposed road schemes would reduce total traffic in the town-centre core by approximately 20%, cut traffic crossing the River Suir bridge by more than 50%, and reduce town-centre heavy-goods traffic by approximately 50%.

The same plan states that roughly three-quarters of the predicted reduction would involve strategic traffic that neither begins nor ends its journey in Thurles. Vehicles presently passing through the town would use a suitable alternative route which presently does not exist. These are not speculative complaints, they are the council’s own measurements and modelling, providing compelling evidence that the relief road and bypass are necessary for safer streets, more reliable commercial access and a town centre that can perhaps function more effectively.

Thurles Needs Immediately:-

► A confirmed and fully funded delivery programme for the Inner Relief Road.
► A published timetable for the bypass.
► A professional audit of damaged signs and street furniture.
► A costed plan to prevent heavy vehicles repeatedly causing further damage.
► Clear public reporting of who sought funding, when it was sought and what response was received.

Thurles residents have waited long enough. They deserve proper engineering, funding and dates, not another series of ceremonial announcement that the announcement of a future announcement is progressing according to plan.