Complaints about lack of consultation for Mayo road works diversion

THE lack of consultation with residents on a diversion route for road works on the N5 outside Castlebar has been the subject of complaints.

Road surfacing works have been taking place on the N5 Castlebar to Ballyvary Road at Liscromwell, on a 3.5km stretch. It has been indicated that they will be done over a period of seven weeks.

Councillor Michael Kilcoyne raised local residents concerns at a municipal district meeting, asking why the national roads office, who have been doing the works, didn't consult with them before sending cars, buses and trucks down their road.

It wasn't fair on residents and he didn't want to see it happening again, he stated.

At one stage, two container trucks had met on the road, blocking it off on both sides, Councillor Harry Barrett told the meeting.

People were livid, he said, when they found out the extent to which they were being impacted.

There had to be consultation when you were sending that amount of traffic up a road, he said.

Councillor Blackie Gavin commented on how a lot of this information goes out online, but many older people especially are not online.

Communication is crucial, he said. “Go out and talk to the people.”

And he also asked for more communication with councillors themselves, saying they sometimes don't know what's going on. Like the works on Spencer Street, where no one told him.

Councillor Al McDonnell, meanwhile, felt the timeframe involved for getting the N5 works done was 'extraordinarily long'.