County Roscommon village 'not a location of interest' for TII

Cloonfad is “not a location of interest” for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), Roscommon Municipal District councillors were informed during a discussion on the need for safety measures in the West Roscommon village.

Raising ongoing safety issues in the village, Fianna Fáil councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice asked how safety measures could be progressed there, noting that he did realise it was on a national route.

Cllr Fitzmaurice has repeatedly called for pedestrian lights and speed reduction ramps to be installed in Cloonfad given the number of accidents that have taken place there.

Council engineer Tom McDermott outlined that Cloonfad was not a “location of interest” for TII but he didn’t know why it wasn’t on TII’s list.

Mr McDermott said he would check again about the accident data in relation to Cloonfad as this information was needed to secure funding.

Pointing out the number of accidents that had taken place in Cloonfad, Cllr Fitzmaurice said there was plenty of data available. “I question TII’s assessment of what is safe or unsafe,” he said.

The meeting was informed that the latest information regarding accident data for Cloonfad was needed to bring it to the attention of the TII.

Council engineer Enda Mulryan said that the data should include types of accidents, history of accidents, and when they were occurring, night or day.

Fine Gael councillor Gareth Scahill suggested that a letter go to the TII or the Gardaí in order to see if the transfer of accident data from the latter to the former could be speeded up.

Independent councillor Tony Waldron suggested that there should be a way of gathering the relevant data through insurance companies in terms of claims paid out.

“That would identify blackspots,” he said.