Distributor Road proposal divides a community

***The year in review***

The provision of a major piece of infrastructure, such as a new distributor road, is usually welcomed by the majority of residents and businesses as a sign of progress.
However, plans for the second phase of the 10km Northern Distributor Relief Road, costing between €100 and €120 million, have divided locals, particularly in Parteen and Clonlara.
In fact, despite Clare County Council’s efforts to explain the necessity to plan for a new route linking Coonagh with the outskirts of Castletroy in Limerick City, local dissent still rages at the end of 2012.
The extent of the opposition against plans for phase two is significant, considering phase one of the route, linking Coonagh with Knocknalisheen in Meelick, generated little conflict.
What promises to be the second largest piece of infrastructure after the €660m Shannon Tunnel, has generated unprecedented interest among communities with over 400 submissions lodged by residents and interested parties during the extensive consultation process.
This is almost five times the 83 submissions sent to An Bord Pleanála for the €40m Shannon River Crossing, which should, arguably, have been more contentious. The new river crossing linking Ballina and Killaloe cuts across a Special Area of Conservation, involves the compulsory purchase of land from valuable properties, an upgrading of the Ballina to Birdhill Regional Road and a new Killaloe bypass.
Clare County Council engineer Tom Tiernan has insisted the long-term benefits of the road will be seen by future generations. He explained this new road is necessary to facilitate development and good quality connectivity and access to all the existing and future needs of the region, including the University of Limerick (UL) and other related educational and medical developments.
“If we don’t plan for when the economy recovers, then we will be left behind because others are planning. We have to be in a position to avail of whatever opportunities arise when more capacity for provision of infrastructure comes back into the economy. The overall benefits of this route will exceed any adverse impacts,” he said.
Local action group, the Northern Distributor Road Residents’ Association, remains unconvinced despite extensive public consultation organised by the council, including three public information and consultation meetings during the route selection process.
Once completed, the Northern Distributor Road project will link Coonagh with Parteen and Ardnacrusha before crossing the River Shannon to the north of UL and onwards to the Old Limerick/Dublin Road.
When the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor became known last January, residents in Parteen and Clonlara started mobilising a campaign of opposition with a public meeting and lobbying of county councillors and Dáil deputies.
This culminated in a protest in February when over 200 people marched from the Tail Race Bar down past Browne’s Pub to a location near the local Co-op Stores.
It also resulted in a meeting between the Concerned Northern Relief Road Residents Group and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar.
Parteen resident Pat Sherry, who will be losing his septic tank and garden, warned the prospect of living near a four-lane dual carriageway doesn’t bear thinking about.
“People assumed this road would never be built so close to a village. This road is being talked about for years and years and people thought it was very much a long-term plan,” he said at the time.
His views were shared by local historian and author, Donal O’Riain and his wife, Alice, who were shocked to learn for the first time at a public information meeting that four lanes of the road are set to go through their home at Tuairín na Molt, Ballykeelaun, Parteen.
The design of the road itself and preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), both of which will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála in due course for adjudication, started last September when the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor was confirmed.