Council set to hold another public meeting

CLARE County Council has organised another public information meeting to address queries about Phase Two of the Northern Distributor Road motorway, costing an estimated €120 million.

CLARE County Council has organised another public information meeting to address queries about Phase Two of the Northern Distributor Road motorway, costing an estimated €120 million.
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March, 27 in the Radisson Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick from 3 to 8pm. Information on the emerging preferred route corridor will be on display and local authority staff and consulting engineers Roughan and O’Donovan will be available to answer questions.
According to Tom Tiernan, project manager and senior engineer with Clare County Council, the council very much appreciated the level of response received at the first public consultation event in January.
“Over 450 people attended the event which underlined the huge public interest in the proposed project. It is very important that stakeholders are very clear regarding what the emerging Preferred Route Corridor proposal consists of so that they, in turn, can submit to the process in a meaningful and clear manner,” he said.
Mr Tiernan added, “We want to understand, as fully as possible, the genuine concerns of local residential, business and other interests and we feel that this further consultation event will greatly enhance this understanding”.
The two-month extension and public consultation event has been welcomed by the Northern Distributor Concerned Residents group. The group intends to use this time to further refine its submission and will seek, if possible, to include independent professional opinion on the suitability and requirement for a road of this kind.
On Wednesday, February 29, members of the group travelled to Dublin to meet with Minister Varadkar to discuss issues surrounding the proposed road. Minister Varadkar also met separately a delegation from Lisnagry. The meeting involving the NDCR was attended by Clare and Limerick TDs and councillors on a cross-party basis.
The group acknowledged those who have worked on this process. “In a time where politicians are often maligned, we believe it is important to recognise when good work is being done. We look forward to continuing to work with our elected representatives over the next few weeks as we move forward with the  process,” the group stated.
A sponsored walk will be held by the group on April 28 to assist with their fundraising efforts. Details of the route and time will be announced shortly.
Submissions and observations in writing from interested groups or individuals regarding the emerging preferred route corridor should be clearly endorsed with the project name ‘Limerick Northern Distributor Road Project – Phase 2’ and sent to the administrative officer at Clare County Council, New Road, Ennis, County Clare.