Transport « Thurles Information

State Of Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary Today

**Footpaths, southside of Aldi Supermarket on Kickham Street today, February 23rd 2021.**

With a Status Orange rainfall warning currently in vogue for Co. Tipperary until approximately 9.00pm this evening, take a look at conditions being accepted by Thurles pedestrians, as they head to shop in Aldi Supermarket on Kickham Street over the past number of days.

We have reports of men, women and children being splashed not just by accumulating water from road craters but also being struck by gravel/stones, same being accidentally catapulted by the tyres of passing motor vehicles.

**Windows of just some of the houses on Kickham Street Thurles being struck by gravel and water; accidentally catapulted by the tyres of passing motor vehicles.**
**It is through the doors of these houses that local councillors and TD’s will be pushing political brochures, in the not to distant future, claiming *“Sorry We Missed You”*.**
**Don’t be sorry, you go missing for 5 years evertime you get elected**.

Local TD’s Mr Michael Lowry and Mr Jackie Cahill are both being asked to forget about the rubbish they post on social media accounts, (Facebook and Twitter) and publicly declare Thurles town a disaster area in relation to its roads.

We smile as we read on February 16th, 2021; courtesy of our local politicians, of how they have attracted €29.5 million in State Funding, same to be allocated for road improvements in Tipperary this year.

I phoned Tipperary Co. Council this afternoon, but only the switch operator was available to accept my complaint; everyone else was “working from home” and unavailable. Funny that, all Supermarkets, Banks, some schools, hardware stores, nurses, doctor, etc. etc., were trading as usual, but Co. Council officials normally seated in private offices were “working from home”.

On another note:
Readership of Thurles.Info now currently stands at over 3 million readers, [3,039,132 as at 3.30 this afternoon]. Each day between 2,000 and 8,000 Tipperary readers, many living abroad, all login from the United States, Germany, France, Turkey, Holland, UK, Australia, New Zealand, China, Saudi Arabia and even Russia, all anxious for news from their home town of Thurles.

Thurles Municipal District Continuing To Waste Taxpayers LPT

You will be aware of that large crater which appeared and was reported by Thurles.Info on December 14th, 2020 last.

Well as you know, Councillor Jim Ryan claims he had it eventually repaired on Monday February 8th 2021.

Yes, actually it was repaired. Then three days later, February 11th 2021, same having been filled with a few shovels of cold tarmac, (view the result hereunder). Could this 3 day repair be rightly headlined “Money Wasting”?

Junction of Mill Road and N62 west of the Archerstown Industrial Estate
and south of Thurles Golf Club. *Photo: G. Willoughby.*

Meanwhile, attention all Councillors, one other little job that needs doing, (sure anytime before Xmas 2024, no rush!)

**Trying to save on cement.** *Photo: G. Willoughby*

While your electorate fully understand that you must neglect salaried council work, due to extreme pressure from your main occupations, e.g., teaching online, furniture sales, refrigeration repairs, accountancy, refuse collection, Facebook updating and God knows what else, etc. etc.; please see image above, captured near Thurles Cattle Mart, Cabragh Road, Thurles.

This heavy kerb collapse came about on February 12th last, following the snowfall.

Tipperary Co. Council Continue Wasting Taxpayer’s Money

We here at Thurles.Info first joked about this issue, on September 17th, 2018. Well what else can you do when you are dealing with employees who have little or no regard for the spending of local taxpayer’s money. Worse still, taxpayers themselves appear not to care how their money is spent by these same employees.

**Junction Clongour Road & Slievenamon Road.**

We further discussed the same subject again, more seriously, on December 5th, 2018.

Now, yesterday, February 16th 2021, (almost 2.5 years after we brought it to our readers attention) and after thousands in tax payer’s money, was spent on this same area, in replacing plastic bollards, etc, etc, etc, a Thurles Municipal District councillor is only now calling for it to be realigned.

First however, as stated in this councillors request, make no mistake, these were never safety bollards to protect pedestrians, rather delicate plastic tubing. Note also, this newly created green area was never, despite being used as such, intended to be a footpath.

This green muddied area shown in picture above, was once a cycle lane, introduced by Labour Party TD Mr Alan Kelly, in the hope of picking up a few stray votes, days prior to a General Election.

Since the cycle lane was first introduced, same, due to a lack of parking spaces, continuously remains blocked by resident’s vehicles, all justifiably in need of parking spaces.

Fianna Fáil Cllr. Mr Seamus Hanafin yesterday has at last called for the junction between Clongour Road and Slievenamon Road, in Thurles, to be properly re-aligned, to allow after 2.5 years, large trucks to turn, rather than block busy rear following traffic.

The re-alignment work carried out at this junction back in Mid-2018, made this junction almost 4 metres narrower. Same has resulted in making life extremely difficult for both 18 wheeler delivery trucks and cattle truck drivers, latter attempting to stay in their lane, while manipulating the corner onto Clongour Road. From the images above and left, drivers have to mount the kerbs with their vehicles, thus damaging plastic bollards in the process.

Perhaps this re-alignment is now required for the 20 trucks per day which will flood into the centre of Thurles, bringing with them 24,500 tons of waste into an area; where local politians i.e. Michael Lowry and Jackie Cahill etc. have failed miserably, over the past 25 years, to even create one single job.

The waste by Tipperary Co. Council officials continues.

People Agree Access To Nature Is Important For Mental Health.

89% of adults agree that the environment is a valuable asset to the people of Ireland.
84% of people felt access to nature was important for their mental health in 2020.
54% placed climate change as one of the top three environmental concerns facing Ireland.
3 in 5 adults used less fuel for transport during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EPA today published its EPA 2020 Year in Review report, which highlights key activities throughout the year. This was accompanied by results of an EPA/Red C poll to measure attitudes toward the environment.

This survey found that 89% of adults agree that the environment is a valuable asset for the people of Ireland. In comparison to last year’s survey, this marks an increase of 2%.

The value of the work of the EPA in protecting Ireland’s environment was highlighted by the survey finding that 84% of people felt access to nature was important for their mental and physical health, in a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The new research also highlighted that 4 in 5 people took steps to help protect the environment in 2020.

The Year in Review highlights the progress achieved by the EPA on its remit in 2020. In terms of air quality, the EPA continued to strengthen the capacity and capability of the air quality network. With the addition of 14 stations in 2020, real-time monitoring has nearly trebled in Ireland since implementation of the programme began. The National Priority Sites for Enforcement continued to be a driving force for change, designating twelve sites as National Priority Sites in 2020.

Commenting on the report highlights, Ms Laura Burke, Director General of the EPA said,

“It is extremely encouraging to see that so many people have personally taken steps to help the environment, as engaging the public on environmental issues is key to the EPA. This underlines the importance of the work we do throughout the year. The monitoring and reporting activities of the EPA remained in place, and even increased in many areas, despite the ongoing pandemic.

The EPA plays a key role, on behalf of the State, in monitoring threats, informing the public and enforcing regulatory measures and our Year in Review 2020 highlights progress in several areas including licensing and enforcement, and citizen engagement.

In 2020, in addition to our reports on waste, water, radon and air quality we published the most comprehensive look at Ireland’s environment to date, the State of the Environment report, which provides a bedrock of research upon which future decisions on environmental protection and priorities can be based.”

The results of the EPA/Red C survey also showed that 3 in 5 adults used less fuel for transport during the pandemic, while the majority of the Irish population have started walking or cycling, considered buying locally produced goods and have increased recycling. In addition, 54% said they placed climate change as one of the top three environmental concerns facing Ireland, with one third stating that it affects them personally.

Laura Burke concluded by stating,

“Now is the time for an overarching environmental policy position for Ireland – to be clear on our ambition to protect Ireland’s environment in the short, medium and long-term. Such a policy position would provide a national vision that all government departments, agencies, businesses, communities and individuals can sign up to, to play their part in protecting our environment. The EPA will continue to work with all stakeholders to place the environment at the heart of decision making, as these survey results clearly demonstrate that the environment is an asset that Irish people clearly value and should be protected and improved for all the people of Ireland.”

Tipperary County / Municipal District Councillors – For your Information.

Please read the link shown HERE.

[No laughing please, this is not a laughing matter.]

What you have read is a statement sent to Tipperarylive.ie. with the keyword or hashtag ‘potholes‘.

Everyone knows that Tipperarylive.ie do not fill potholes, so we must assume that Councillor Mr Jim Ryan in his statement, was in contact with them, simply to build his dwindling profile as a public representative.

In this statement Councillor Mr Jim Ryan congratulates, quote, “our local District Engineer and his outdoor team for all that they have done within the district and they are fully aware of these roads and have been filling in potholes, but the problem is that these works are getting washed away with heavy rain.” [No mention of the ‘Double Ditch’ issue, latter situated 2 minute walking time from Mr Ryan’s home; to Tipperarylive.ie.]

Truth is “local District Engineer and his outdoor team” do not know how to fill a pothole. Too much cold tarmac sitting above in their yard.

No Sir, Councillor Mr Jim Ryan; these slovenly works are being unravelled by heavy traffic e.g. large tractors wheels, heavy laden cattle trucks, eighteen wheeler container trucks, not to mention inadequate drainage; before this ‘maintenance team’ reaches the next pothole.

Reported by : *George Willoughby* *(Not a local councillor [MDCC]).*

Attention Tipperary County / Municipal District Councillors – Please Take Special Note.

Councillers, I am aware that you have received very little training during this COVID-19 pandemic, (except on how to fill-in claims for salary and expenses). So carefully try to learn, the correct way to report Pot Hole issues, Broken Pavements, Street Lighting, Fly Tipping, Rotten Trees, Weeds, and unacceptable Road Surfaces.

Go to the link shown HERE.

The beauty of this link is that you must supply your name and email address, thus automatically giving you a God-like profile in time for the next local election, when you continuously report an issue.

If the issue has already been reported then they will inform you. The race is on — first to report the issue and get your profile promoted. [See picture above, look who stole the fame, renown and prestige resulting from this great achievement.] and I won’t need to go running to TippFM or Tipperarylive.ie, since none of the latter undertake any road repairs, whatsoever.

Should any County / Municipal District Councillor need help operating the programming on FixMyStreet , we here at Thurles.Info will be happy to assist (for a small Fee of course).

We also reported the “Crater at Turtulla Cross”, latter which has been ignored for seven weeks, by “local District Engineer and his outdoor team“.

Report confirmation again received by : *George Willoughby*

I should point out that any frustraited motorist can contact the site FixMyStreet to report an issue. This also helps when you are seeking compensation for damage to their vehicle or a death caused due to neglected road works.
Tipperary Co. Council or TII can no longer use the excuse in court, “We were not aware of the problem”, since the MYGOV website FixMyStreet notify the relative authority immediately and also notify the person making the complaint of any future progress.

Who needs money wasting, powerless, County / Municipal District Councillors in the 21st century?
We can do their work and eradicate Local Property Tax charges.