THE lack of traffic calming measures at one of the county’s top tourist attractions has been highlighted.
Councillor John Crowe, at a meeting of the Shannon Municipal District, has urged “that traffic calming measures to be installed in Bunratty Village due to the large volume of traffic passing through and for the safety of pedestrians in this area”.
He pointed out, “This is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the county with a large volume of buses and cars every day. There is no facility for traffic management. This needs to be done sooner rather than later”.
Eugene O’Shea, senior executive engineer for the district, responded, “In order to determine whether traffic calming measures are warranted in Bunratty Village, a detailed traffic survey will have to be undertaken and arrangements to have this survey carried out will be made as soon as possible”.
Councillor PJ Ryan supported Councillor Crowe’s call saying, “You don’t need any survey, just stand on the green outside Durty Nelly’s for ten minutes.”
He continued, “A lot of these tourists are American and they have a tendency to look left rather than right when crossing. They are in grave danger.”
He also pointed out that there is not only tourist traffic in the area but also heavy vehicles coming from the nearby quarry.
Jessica Quinn
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.