‘Get on with the job’

Push for Virginia bypass project

A family, whose house is set to be knocked to make way for the Virginia bypass, have expressed frustration at further delays to the project.

The Bradys, who will also lose part of their farm as per the published preferred route, said the news first came as a “shock”, but they had since “come to terms” it.

Donal Brady had been asked to look for an “alternative site” for a new house, but admits the latest update on the project- that it has been put back another 18 months- has left him and his family “flabbergasted”.

Cavan County Council admitted last week it will most likely be the fourth quarter of 2027 before planning now gets submitted.

The council has also explained that while the project remains a “strategic priority”, the timeline is being impacted by statutory requirements (see full statement from local authority below).

“What do we do?” asks Donal. “This house, like any house needs constant maintenance to what extent we can, we’re advised not to build significant extensions. What level of maintenance do we keep? How long are we going to be in it? We don’t know.”

He said the situation is “extremely frustrating”.

Donal purchased the house 30 years ago. Their property is just off the N3 and within walking distance to their farm, a local restaurant, work and a bus stop.

“There’s not another site I can get as convenient,” he says.

“It’s extremely hard,” the father of three adds.

However, he remains optimistic.

“We can do that [move]. You can get a bit upbeat about it and you can get excited about a new home. You can get excited about that, but then the rug is pulled from underneath you in terms of it not happening for a while, if it’s going to happen [at all],” he explains.

Meanwhile, if the proposed route goes ahead as planned, the existing road will be “widened” into Donal’s farm land.

One of the “biggest impacts” on Donal and other landowners in the area to date is that they couldn’t obtain planning within a “huge” area around the proposed corridor for more than five years, until such time as the route was formally identified and finalised.

“That included our farmyard,” he says, adding: “That set us back in terms of farm yard infrastructure.”

While he can now apply for permission, costs have increased substantially. Works that may have cost around €30,000 back then, have more than doubled, exceeding €70,000.

“That’s the kind of impact it has had to date,” the dairy farmer shares.

Now the proposed route is “on the margin” of his farm.

‘Horrendous’ traffic

The urgent need for the bypass is apparent to Donal and others living locally, caused by the “horrendous” amount of traffic on roads around Virginia.

At times, the traffic determines when he and his family can cross their cows over the road. Anything from five to 10 cars waiting is “normal”.

“It’s frustrating for us and it’s frustrating for drivers.”

“It’s extremely busy,” he said, adding that some drivers are “absolutely” speeding down local back roads.

The other “big thing” Donal sees are road traffic accidents.

“There has been a couple of serious incidents and quite a few minor ones,” he explains.

“It’s not safe on a Friday evening on the road,” he adds, describing how the bypass would “take a lot of traffic off the minor roads”.

Asked what he would like to see happen now, he responds: “Get on with the job. Simple as that, and that’s the opinion of my wife and kids as well.”

“It is frustrating but fortunately we’re strong enough and fit enough and healthy enough, everything is going good.

“We are very lucky in that sense. It’s just a house, we can build a home but it’s just we’d like to know what’s going on.”

‘Nightmare’

Meanwhile, Virginia Fire Officer Patrick Farrelly has attended “several” serious traffic incidents in the area. He claims residents are “prisoners in their own homes” during evening time.

“They’re not fit for all the traffic,” he says of the roads.

Going to these calls and others “can be a nightmare” for the fire service due to the volume of traffic passing through the town.

“From time to time you could be at a standstill for a couple of minutes,” he said. “The traffic will do their best to pull in up on footpaths, they’re mounting footpaths which is not good either.”

“We wouldn’t go under blue light or sirens unless we really had to, because they [motorists] get nervous. It’s not fair putting that pressure on people,” he said, while fire fighters are not able to respond to calls “as quickly as you would like”.

Patrick is also Chair of the Virginia Development Association, which is eager to see the bypass project come to fruition.

Traffic throughput begins in the town at around 5am, with a welcome break in the middle of the day, and then starts again for several hours at a time come evening.

Years ago, the association would have “objected” to the idea of a bypass due the impact it could have on businesses.

“But now it’s gone that bad that, when the traffic gets moving through the town, nobody stops anymore. It takes them that long to get into the town that, when they do get in, they’re afraid to stop. They just keep going,” Patrick points out.

“It’s a ghost town in the evenings,” he says of the impact traffic is having.

Patrick was “devastated for the town” after hearing news the bypass project had been pushed back yet again.

“It’s affecting the town big time and it’s affecting all the environs around it in several different ways,” he says.

In the position for 10 years now, and living on the outskirts of Virginia, Patrick describes how the “traffic situation” has affected the town’s ability to attract new businesses also.

“Nobody wants to come to Virginia at the moment,” he tells the Celt. “You can’t get into it, you can’t get out of it.”

Just the previous evening Patrick was speaking to a man coming from Dublin airport and driving to Dowra. It took him 45 minutes to drive through Virginia.

“It nearly took him as long to drive three kilometres than it did from the airport to Virginia,” Patrick reports.

“He just hit it at the wrong time,” he adds.

“It’s chaos, the traffic is being held up on every road in every direction.”

Patrick believes, even with the presence of a bypass, the town would be “able to sustain itself” given its key location as gateway into the county.

“It is a great wee town and it has a lot going for it.

“We’d like to get some answers as to why this is being held up,” he says.

“The town and the people outside of it feel let down,” notes Patrick.

‘Trouble’

Ray Cole, Managing Director of Virginia International Logistics “couldn’t believe it” when he heard the bypass project had been pushed back.

The CEO of the Maghera-based company says “most” of their main customers are in Cavan Town. The delay in bypass delivery means “delays” for their drivers too.

“When you hit Virginia, you’re in trouble,” he says.

“You try and avoid it at certain times if you can but you can’t always do that.”

Delays through the town can be “anything” from half an hour to one hour.

“It depends,” he says, describing it as “crazy” for a 2km length of road.

Fifty of their trucks pass through Virginia each day, and Mr Cole estimates that delays alone costs the company around €10,000 per week.

“Kells is booming because the new M3 just goes straight to its door. Cavan is a long way off that. It’s just a disaster for the whole area,” he surmises.

The ‘gateway’ to Cavan

“It’s really frustrating,” Cllr TP O’Reilly (FG) tells this newspaper.

“I really do believe this is going to affect the county as a whole for the next ten years going forward if there’s nothing done.”

He said the route is a “gateway” for services to Cavan.

“It’s going to become a national issue,” he believes.

“We’re totally dependent on road network for goods and services, for everything,” the Virginia councillor says.

“We’re in the middle of February and we don’t have an allocation for our roads and we don’t know how much we’re going to get for our roads this year.”

He says greenways and cycleways “seem to be priority ahead of the roads”.

“I’m all for that but we really need to get on to our government to get our road up to a proper standard.”

“The roads are in a disastrous state,” describing how some roads are “cut into ribbons”.

Since October, Cllr O’Reilly says he is counting the number of cyclists he sees when he’s in the town.

“I met one,” he reports.

“We spent millions putting in infrastructure that’s never going to be used and it’s ridiculous,” claims Cllr O’Reilly.

Timeframe impacted by ‘statutory’ requirements – Cavan County Council

The N3 Virginia bypass project remains “the main strategic priority” for Cavan County Council, a spokesperson said this week.

However, they recognised the “frustration” locally regarding the time required to advance the scheme.

Cavan County Council is the lead authority for the scheme, working in partnership with Meath County Council and in association with Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

The project is currently progressing through Phase 3 of TII’s Project Management Guidelines, which includes detailed design development, environmental assessment and preparation of the Preliminary Business Case.

In relation to the time frame, the spokesperson said it “reflects the statutory and national requirements” that apply to all “major infrastructure projects”.

“In recent years these have expanded significantly and require schemes to demonstrate environmental compliance, climate resilience, value for money and alignment with national transport policy before entering the planning system.”

The spokesperson said these requirements include assessment of climate and carbon impacts, biodiversity and habitats, sustainable transport integration and economic appraisal and affordability.

“This work is actively underway,” they stated.

“The objective is to ensure that when the scheme enters the planning process it is robust, legally compliant and capable of progressing without avoidable delay.”

The Government’s updated Infrastructure Guidelines issued on February 11, 2026, aim to streamline approval processes. While they do not change the current design work, they are expected to assist in progressing projects such as the Virginia Bypass once submitted.

“The Council will continue to keep the public informed as the project advances,” the spokesperson stated.