Claim of high early traffic accident rate on new Mayo dual carriageway

by Caoimhín Rowland

An elected member of Mayo County Council has claimed there have been 11 accidents on the new N5 road between Turlough and Westport since its opening.

Speaking at a meeting of the council's tourism strategic policy committee, Councillor Michael Loftus said the information was furnished to him by an elected colleague - but it was not officially verified at this point.

Councillor Michael Kilycoyne shared concerns over the Islandeady sector of the road as it would take emergency services a long time to make it to the scene of a crash due to access issues.

Councillor Christy Hyland also spoke out against the ‘nay-sayers’ quibbling over the price of the project. Instead of worrying about a couple of hundred million, he remarked we should have ‘spent a billion, not 300 million’ in Mayo and upgraded the N17 road also.

Hitting out at Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, Hyland asked: “Do we not count in the west?”

The western rail corridor and N17 upgrade - both vital pieces of infrastructure for the county and wider region as a whole - seem to be on pause.

The controversial green party leader is expected to visit Ballina next month for the Mary Robinson Climate Conference.