Wexford primary school ‘excluded’ from safety works due to ‘restrictive’ and ‘rigid’ planning process

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Efforts to make walking to and from school safer for children in the Wexford village of Clonroche are ongoing despite a complicated design process. As the only primary school in the county situated on a national road, those attending Clonroche NS must contend with traffic, including heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), as they walk or cycle to class.

As a result, most of the school’s pupils are driven to class, further exacerbating traffic issues as families use the small car park outside the school. Safety works in the village have seen the speed limit on this stretch of the N30 reduced to 40kmh but, according to a survey carried out by parents at the school, 89pc of motorists exceed the limit between the hours of 2-3 p.m. - with 39 per cent of those travelling over 65 kmh.

While Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s (TII) Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programme has been rolled out across Co Wexford and been used to great effect in places like Kiltealy, The Ballagh, and Rosslare Strand, the level of works required - which include pedestrian crossings, footpaths, cycle lanes, and traffic-calming measures - make it difficult to apply to Clonroche NS.

At the monthly meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD), Councillor Bridín Murphy said the proposals presented for Clonroche NS, which would see additional car parking built beside the community hall, were not viable.

“What TII suggested for the safe routes at Clonroche isn’t really viable, so the reality is we’re not going to avail of it,” she said. “The option provided doesn’t work because there’s no safe area at the front of the school. Does this mean we’re effectively null and void?

“It’s a wonderful programme, don’t get me wrong, but it can be quite restrictive. There’s one option and one option only. If a school isn’t suited to the scheme it’s very quickly excluded from what I can gather. TII is very rigid in the plans.”

Accepting that Clonroche NS’s location was an issue, area engineer David Murphy did offer some hope for the future, confirming that TII was still working with the SRTS team on a design for the school.

However, he also confirmed that Clonroche was not on the list of approved schools for the programme in 2026.