Ballyjamesduff MD members seek meeting with Minister

Members elected to the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District are requesting a meeting with the Minister for Transport over the need for strategic investment in the local area.

Top of their list of demands will be a standalone strategic infrastructural project aimed at upgrading the Crosskeys to Virginia road.

Independent Councillor Shane P O’Reilly tabled the motion at the recent MD meeting in Ballyjamesduff, and received support from his fellow elected members.

He demanded no more “perennial” fixes for the road noting that what’s needed is targeted capital investment for a route used on a daily basis by a steady flow of traffic.

However, it was pointed out to Cllr O’Reilly there were at least six other regional roads that all require urgent attention and realignment ahead of it on a list.

They include the R178 Virginia to Bailieborough road, the R198 Killeshandra, as well as the R154 at Killyfassey.

Addressing Fine Gael’s Winston Bennett, John McGahern, Senior Executive Engineer, said there was an accident on the Killyfassey stretch of road at least every three to four weeks. The local councillor agreed.

Then there is the R195 at Deerpark, the R195 at Mullagh Lake, and the R165 linking the R188 west of Cootehill to Kingscourt.

Some of the roads, Mr McGahern contended, sat at a position of “higher priority” than the Crosskeys to Virginia road.

Yet Cllr O’Reilly was unrelenting, stating the roadway, which attracts a significant degree of industrial traffic, was close to being in a “bad auld way”.

He recommended the MD send a delegation to highlight this concern with the minister personally, noting that a letter to the department would suffer an “off the shelf reply”.

“We need to put it straight,” said Cllr O’Reilly. “We’ll go to him”.

It was agreed that the purpose of the requested delegation would focus on the need for strategic infrastructural investment in the area as whole.