Safety concerns about people walking on road at Mayo emergency accommodation centre

SAFETY concerns about people walking between Charlestown and emergency accommodation on the old Dublin Road have been raised with the council.

“Someone is going to be killed,” Councillor Adrian Forkan told the monthly municipal district meeting, where Councillor Gerry Murray also commented on a recent issue with people out in the middle of the road in the rain.

People are walking on the road at all hours of the day and night between the town and Charlestown Lodge - formerly a nursing home - and during the winter especially you cannot see them, said Councillor Forkan, who drives the route every day going to work.

He wondered if maybe there was room for an emergency footpath to alleviate the danger as someone is going to get killed, he warned.

Councillor Murray said he recently received two or three calls where a few individuals were out in the middle of the road on a Saturday evening when people were going home from Mass, in the lashing rain, with no jackets on. He thought they were 'under the weather' and have since been given a 'red card'.

There is a road safety issue, he said, and he has received a lot of representations about the dangers.

The centre has yellow jackets and high-vis for pedestrians but on the evening above the people weren't wearing any.

Members were told the council has been liaising with Bus Éireann to have the property designated so buses will stop there.

They are prepping the documents at the moment and hopefully confirmation should be received this week or next, which is a positive, said director of services Tom Gilligan.