Call for user-operated level crossings review following Mayo tragedy
ALL user-operated level crossings must be reviewed as a priority following the recent tragedy on the Mayo rail line outside Ballyhaunis.
Transport Minister Dara O'Brien has been invited to a site meeting at the Kiltybo crossing where 12-year-old Eoin Doyle lost his life in a collision between a train and the car in which he was travelling.
Speaking with the blessing of the Doyle family, local Councillor Alma Gallagher raised the need for an urgent review at today's meeting of Mayo County Council, rebuking the minister's suggestion that it was too early to say a wider review is needed.
She asked why in this day and age we continue to have level crossings where the safety system relies on road users physically opening and closing gates themselves.
“How can it be too early to review a system that has existed for generations,” she asked.
Councillor Gallagher described arriving to the meeting and using a fob to lift the carpark barrier, which then closed behind her without having to get out of the car. Yet in 2026 we cannot justify protecting every crossing where a public road meets a live railway line.
Both she and the Doyle family found that very difficult to understand, she commented.
We are all understand health and safety, she continued. If there is a risk we act, and we remove it. Health and safety is supposed to be about prevention. So why should our expectations be any lower where a public road crosses a live railway track.
Councillor Gallagher cited other lives that had been lost in the community and asked: “How many lives have to be lost before we decide enough is enough?”
Issues highlighted by the member included the fact that trains are getting faster, traffic patterns are changing with more people on roads they are unfamiliar with. Some may never have encountered a user-operated level crossing. Gates are being left open, and where was the national public awareness campaign of years ago.
Councillor Gallagher asked the minister and Irish Rail to undertake a full national survey of user-operated level crossings, where fatalities or serious incidents have previously occurred.
That review, she added, must look seriously at replacing user-operated gates with automatic barriers, warning lights and modern systems.
It must consider train speeds and frequency, road usage, visibility and signage, and recognise modern road travel, including satellite navigation directing people down rural roads.
She specifically asked that Cuiltybo crossing be prioritised, saying she didn't want to be told the numbers don't justify the investment.
The minister said it's too early to say if a wider review is needed but she would respectfully say it is, and she invited him to have a meeting at Kiltybo where he would get first-hand experience of what they were talking about.
“We should not need another tragedy before we examine every user-operated crossing in this country,” commented Councillor Gallagher.
Councillor Gallagher described how the Doyle family has been left devastated and the community heartbroken following the loss of Eoin, a talented young sportsperson. Nothing could ease their loss, she said, but they could insist that everything possible is done to make these crossings safer and ensure no other family has to endure the loss that the Doyle family is experiencing.
There was full support in the council chamber for the proposal, with Councillor Neil Cruise saying it was time for Iarnród Éireann to concede that this is one of the most dangerous crossings in the county and they need to put in an automated barrier system.
There is a flashing yellow and red light system but it's not good enough, and you cannot see around the bend on one side, with just eight seconds to clear the crossing, he explained.
Members thoughts were very much with the Doyle family, to whom sympathy was extended on the loss of Eoin.
* Funded under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme