Mc Hugh welcomes commitment from Roads Service on Castlefin Park Footways

Following a meeting with D.O.E. roads service officials last week Derg Sinn Féin councillor Ruairí Mc Hugh has given a cautious welcome to a commitment given to him by roads service to replace the remaining flagged foot paths in the park with tarred footpaths. Following the meeting he said,

' I raised this issue with roads service after residents raised concerns with me primarily for two reasons, the first being that the flagged footpaths have over time become a hazard to pedestrians as the uneven nature of the flag stones have led to people being injured as the result of tripping and falling and secondly, after periods of heavy rainfall some areas of the footways pool water and this makes it difficult for residents to get in and out of their houses '

' Roads service officials have assured me that they will undertake this work if the funding is available and I intend to continue to lobby them to ensure the funding is put aside for this work to be carried out'

Councillor Mc Hugh also expressed his disappointment that following a request by him for traffic calming measures to be implemented on the Cavan Road area of the town, Roads officials have said the road does not at present meet the necessary criteria and was not a priority in the district at the moment, he said,

' The Cavan Road area has seen increased housing development in recent years and residents with young families have expressed their concerns to me over speeding cars which pose an obvious risk to children in the area that cross the road between the different estates. Having agreed to my request for a survey to be carried out, Roads service have told me that the average speed of traffic on the road over the period of time was 20 mph'.

'While I accept the result of the survey it only takes one or two speeding drivers who do not fall with in the average speed to cause a serious injury or accident to children. The safety of children in the area which is paramount and I just hope that it does not take an accident or much worse a fatality for roads service to implement the appropriate measures and I intend to continue to make representations on the concerned residents behalf to roads service on this matter'