Roads « Thurles Information

30% Drop In Funding For North Tipperary National Roads

Severe weather affects North Tipperary road surfaces

In respect of funding for the North Tipperary National Roads Programme the Government has allocated €2,952,197 for the constituency in 2011 in comparison to €4,216,200 last year. This represents a 30% drop in funding over last years allocation.

Local Fine Gael Deputy Noel Coonan has expressed deep disappointment with North Tipperary’s allocation of funding under the National Roads Programme 2011 which is €1.2million less than last year’s amount and one of the lowest allocations given to any local authority in the country.

“We have many major national roads in the North Tipperary/South Offaly constituency including the N62 and N52 for example and these routes carry very heavy volumes of traffic on a daily basis. These same roads require regular maintenance and improvements, but I fear our roadways will be neglected again this year due to a severe drop in Government funding.This amount is simply insufficient and will create enormous pressure for North Tipperary County Council, who will be striving to maintain the same high level of maintenance and restoration on a much tighter budget. The Council is already operating on a shoe string budget as it deals with ravaged roads devastated by severe weather conditions throughout this winter.Out of all the 33 local authorities nationally, North Tipperary County Council received the fourth lowest level of funding. The only other authorities nationally to fare worse were Waterford City Council, Carlow County Council and Dublin City Council. Local Deputies have been announcing and welcoming this funding, saying numerous sections of roadways and schemes will benefit. While it is good news that the Congar/Ballyluskey realignment project for example will receive funding; the sharp drop in the level of funding cannot be ignored and is not to be welcomed. ” stated Deputy Coonan.

The Fine Gael Deputy said projects to benefit under the funding include safety improvements at Church Street, Templemore and Sheehane in Roscrea. Works will also take place on the Thurles Bypass scheme. Pavement and minor works will occur in Borrisokane, Kilkillhara, Ardcroney and Two-Mile-Borris. The Congar / Ballyluskey realignment project will also be advanced.

Deputy Coonan said that he will continue to push for the progression of these projects for the betterment of the constituency.

Tipperary Contractors Fear Agricultural Vehicle Rules

Tipperary Farm Contractors Meeting

Tipperary Farming Contractors have expressed grave concerns regarding new regulations governing the use of agricultural and works vehicles on public roads and feel that these new laws will seriously effect their future incomes.

Details of the Department of Transport and Road Safety Authority‘s new proposals are due to be announced later this week. Contractors understandably now express concerns that these new measures will exclude them from non-agricultural work contracts.

It is understood that a speed limit of just 40kph will be also be introduced for tractors on public roads, with the minimum age for tractor drivers to be increased, while permits will to be introduced for contractors who use farm vehicles that run on rebated fuel for non-agricultural work.

Tom Murphy, director of the Professional Agricultural Contractors (PAC) of Ireland claims:

“The proposed legislation will do serious damage to contractor incomes and the cost of permits, which would allow agricultural contractors to use farm machinery on non-agricultural jobs, such as construction, is likely to be prohibitive. Contractors will go to the wall because of this. There are very few contractors who survive exclusively on farm work. New speed limit will effectively ban tractors from motorways, while the cost of new permits could exclude many contractors from tendering for work with local councils.The proposals, as they are currently framed, deemed the transport of harvested willow as haulage rather than an element of the contractor’s core business. Consequently, contractors will need permits to run their vehicles on rebated fuel if they get involved in this activity.”

The PAC will hold a meeting this week on Thursday at 8pm in the Horse and Jockey, Thurles, Co Tipperary to advise contractors on these new proposed measures.

Farm contractors incomes have already been hit this past year, with the repossession and resale of farm and plant machinery by finance companies, having had serious consequences for established and registered agricultural contractors, with cheap tractors and machinery, bought at repossession sales, enabling new entrants to undercut established operators. Claims that new silage outfits have started up, as a result, which are not registered for tax and who are operating, charging significantly less as a consequence, would appear to be well founded.

Three Die In Car Crash Near Cashel

Gardaí are seeking help to identify three men who died in a car crash near Cashel, Co Tipperary, last night.

The accident happened on the Dublin side of the Old Cashel Road at Deansgrange shortly before 11pm last night, less than 2km from the centre of Cashel and just before the M8 motorway.

The victims had been the occupants of a car that was in collision with a lorry. Gardaí say it appears to have been a head-on collision, and are describing the accident as one of the worst seen in the area for some time.

The lorry driver has been taken to South Tipperary General Hospital, but it is believed his condition is not life-threatening, and it is hoped he may be able to shed light on how the crash occurred.

Any persons who may have witnessed this collision are asked to contact the Gardai at Cashel 062-75840, the Garda Confidential Line 1800-600111, or 062 – 75840 or any Garda Station.

The N8 remains closed for a technical examination of the scene and diversions are in place.

Nenagh M7 Stretch Opens Next Wednesday

The dispute on the M7 Castletown/Nenagh stretch has been resolved. This clears the way for the opening of the final section next Wednesday.

Local Fine Gael TD Deputy Noel Coonan welcomed the news stating: “The blockade by contractors has been lifted, sub-contractors have been part-paid and as a result plans are in now in train for the section to finally opened next week, weather of course permitting. The dispute over the final section of the M7 has been settled and thankfully the roadway will open ahead of the New Year. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been lobbying the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, Fred Barry CEO of the NRA and Peter Carey County Manager of Laois County Council to intervene and work together to resolve threats which was preventing the stretch opening. I welcome the resolution of the dispute which has cleared the way for the planned opening of the roadway next Wednesday and hopefully present weather conditions will not intervene.”

This Design and Build scheme is high quality dual carriageway approximately 36 km in length. The existing N7 carriageway will remain in place to serve local road needs. The scheme started at the most easterly junction of the Nenagh bypass and finished at the Borris-in-Ossory interchange which will be constructed as part of the M7/M8 Scheme.

This project has been funded by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan and Transport 21 and by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.

Public Leadership In Winter Hibernation In Tipperary

We the Irish State has spent €40m planning and designing an underground railway line that may never be built, recent figures reveal. Iarnród Éireann admit spending millions of euros on the second Dublin DART underground project, proposed to run from Docklands to Inchicore, even though 7.5 km of the 7.6 km line does not yet have planning permission. New figures show that €20million will have been spent this year alone planning this line.

Killaloe bridge, North Tipperary

One other high-profile rail project for our glorious capital, expected to cost €3 billion, the much hailed Metro North has already incurred costs of €135 million.

If both projects are shelved, because of huge cuts in public spending, it follows that hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ euro’s will have been flushed into the river Liffey. Read the Department of Transport Website here

Meanwhile, back in rural forgotten Tipperary, the much patched road to Two Mile Borris has begun to unravel again and when our present weather conditions subside sufficiently, we can look forward to enjoying a surface similar to a gravelled driveway.

In another scenario, a meeting of County Councillors from Clare and North Tipperary were told by Clare County Council Officials recently that they have earmarked €18,000 for repairs to half the bridge at Killaloe. But there are no plans to carry out similar repairs on the Tipperary half of the bridge, due to lack of funds.

The ten year wait for a ring road for Thurles obviously was not part of the “Lowry Secret Support Deal” for government either and we dare to ask the question here in North Tipp, was there ever any deal in the first place, as certainly we here presently resident in ‘no mans land‘ have not seen any benefits, financially or otherwise, over the past two years.

Now with North Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD Máire Hoctor revealing this week that she was very disillusioned by the performance of Taoiseach Brian Cowen and would be prepared to vote for her fellow Tipperary native, Mary Hanafin to take over as leader of the party, we can expect no ‘manna from heaven‘, or even a bit of tarmac, for that matter, from this quarter either. She, herself, admits that Brian Cowan even forgot she existed, failing to inform her of the visit by the Minister for Trade Enterprise and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe, to Thurles last July, to open a €3.5m business park in the town, thus afforded Mr Lowry the opportunity to pretend he delivered that project for North Tipperary on his own.

Thurles Chamber of Commerce seem to have emigrated and Thurles Urban District Councillors have not been heard from, since August, when dog poo, boy racers and attempts to meet with the IMF were high on their agenda. As for North Tipp County Council, well who knows where they have gone to ground, hopefully not into one of our numerous potholes.

Meanwhile, expect to spend an extra hour queuing in traffic as you attempt to enter Thurles this Christmas period, to collect your children from local schools.

My conclusion is that all our expensive leadership in North Tipperary has hibernated for the Winter and hopefully someone will waken them up prior to the January 2011 General Election.

In the meanwhile, do take care of those vehicle tyres, as you attempt to manoeuvre around the numerous potholes on our rural roads.