Councillor wants to know what route new N17 is taking in Mayo

AN east Mayo councillor wants to know what route the new N17 from Knock to Collooney will take.

Councillor John Caulfield made a plea for information at the monthly Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District meeting.

The project is being managed by the Sligo Regional Design Office. An emerging preferred route was due to be published in October, but a review started in July is proving more extensive than anticipated.

Sligo RDO, in a recent email to councillors and the media, said it will provide a further update on the matter in January 2023.

Councillor Caulfield said this project had started in 2018 and he wanted answers: “When will we have a preferred route?”

People seeking planning permission were being held up, he said, and they were choosing to go and live elsewhere as a result, with families being lost from the area.

In the last few months there had been two deaths as a result of accidents as issues have not been addressed on the N17, he continued.

When were were going to get a decision or how many more deaths will there be before something is done with the N17, he asked.

“When is it going to happen? I want to know.”

Councillor John Cribben agreed with him 'wholeheartedly'.

He knew of one family who applied for permission five years ago but who have now built somewhere else.

Senior engineer Conrad Harley said the N17 project is with TII and Sligo County Council and they were 'at their mercy'.

They could make representations on it, and he took on board what the councillor said.