Delays to three road projects in Tipperary questioned after being on priority list for years
Delays in progressing three long-standing “priority” road projects in north Tipperary have been raised by councillors at a district meeting.
At the September meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District, councillors were asked to select three priority road projects to bring to an upcoming meeting with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
Tipperary County Council is one of the few local authorities in Ireland that have an annual meeting with the TII to set out their priority projects for the year ahead.
The three roads that were chosen to be included were the N65 at Carrigahorig Bridge, the N52 Nenagh Bypass and the N52 Borrisokane Road — the same priorities as last year.
Independent councillor Joe Hannigan said that there was a sense of “here we go again”, with many of the roads remaining on the priority list for years.
“When I was cathaoirleach in 2019, those were the roads we spoke about,” he said.
“When you think about the challenges that those areas and those roads present, and have done for a long number of years, and you look at what’s happening in other counties, and the way their roads have progressed over the last 10 years, we’re continuously, for yonks, repeating the same three roads,” Cllr Hannigan said.
However, Cllr Hannigan said that he felt that going to an annual meeting and discussing the same roads wasn’t working.
“We’ll have to change tack,” he said.
However, representatives from the district’s roads section said that progress was being made on the projects, and said that if roads are removed from the list, work will never take place.
“On Carrigahorig, our team are working on the tender process for it, so we have planning permission for that project, so that one is moving,” the meeting was told.
“The funding that TII has, has been under pressure for the last few years, we’re not the only district in the county that will be sending up the same projects.
“To keep them on the list is the only way to put pressure on the TII, if we drop them off the list, there’s definitely no hope of getting them done,” the meeting heard.
Labour Party councillor Fiona Bonfield said that the three projects should stay on the list, saying it is the only way that the projects will get done.