Road to plough through Parteen couple’s home

A WELL-known South-East Clare community leader has revealed his shock at learning about the proposed demolition of his home to facilitate the construction of the €100 million Limerick Northern Distributor Road.

Local historian and author, Donal O’Riain and his wife, Alice, who have lived for almost 50 years in Parteen, only discovered at a recent public information meeting that four lanes of phase two of the Northern Distributor Road are set to go through their four-bedroom home, Tuairín na Molt at Ballykeelaun.
While aware they could be living near the new motorway, which will split Parteen village in two, the couple insist Clare County Council provided no prior warning or indication it would result in the loss of their home, before they attended the consultation meeting in the Radisson Hotel, Limerick.
Their distress about losing their home coincides with a warning from Clare Deputy Timmy Dooley about the “limbo” facing at least 25 farmers, three householders facing the prospect of losing their homes and other landowners losing parts of the curtilage of their properties.
Once the preferred route is earmarked for individual land and properties, Deputy Dooley warned it would present major restrictions on proposed future developments and could effectively sterilise properties.
If a farm is split in two, the Fianna Fáil deputy pointed out, the farmer will not be able to plan for the future or consider handing it over to a family member because of the uncertainty surrounding the possible purchase of the land and if the Government will be able to secure enough money to build this motorway.
“A landowner will not be able to sell this land on the open market because it will be ‘worthless’ pending a funding decision on the road, which could take over 10 years. Landowners will be left with an impending loss hanging over them.
“It would be far better if the Government could make an offer to buy a person’s land within two years of route selection, which would at least give people the opportunity to buy land elsewhere, if they wished, and move on.”
He said a line indicating a preferred route on a map shouldn’t be progressed unless the Government could give definite commitment the money would be allocated to build this road within a reasonable timeframe.
He was supported by IFA Roads Project Team chairman, Ger Bergin, who warned indicative lines for roads should be removed from all development plans and maps unless the Government has all the required funding to build the motorway. Mr Bergin said the IFA has already requested Transport Minister Leo Varadkar to ensure the minimum disruption would be caused to landowners concerning the selection of routes for all major road projects.
He warned there is real danger that farmers in South-East Clare would be prevented from expanding their enterprise for at least five or six years if funding isn’t available to build this motorway. This is also in conflict with Government targets in Harvest 2020, projecting a 50% increase in dairy exports and 40% in beef exports.
“Some of the planned road schemes are now far too big for traffic volumes set in the middle of the boom,” he added.
Mr Ó Riain said no money would compensate them for losing their family home, which he built through direct labour with the help of family and friends back in 1964.
“I am not interested in compensation. I want to remain in my home and hopefully this road will never happen. We have spent a lot of money renovating this house in recent years and had no plans to move for the rest of our lives.
“This house has a lot of happy memories for us having raised five children. It is still very much a family home, as our children and grandchildren visit regularly, particularly during the summer time,” he said.
“When I built this house, I never expected in my wildest dreams four lanes of a road would go through it almost 50 years later,” he said.
If the preferred emerged route for the new motorway is confirmed, the couple will have to get another house, preferably in the parish, as they have strong ties with the locality. Donal and Alice are heavily involved in the promotion and development of local organisations, while Alice has been a member of the local choir for about 30 years and still enjoys set dancing.
Donal has written five locally-acclaimed books, The History and Folklore of Parteen and Meelick in conjunction with the late Seamus O’Cinnéide; Pictures and Poets of Parteen and Meelick; The Album of the Past in Pictures and Verse, Parteen, Meelick and Coonagh; co-author of Parteen, Meelick GAA Centenary with Seamus O’Cinnéide and Michael McCarthy and an Irish book, Dialann Dónail.
Donal’s father came to live in Parteen, where he reared his family during the construction of the Shannon Scheme, in the late ’20s, while Alice’s mother and great-grandmother were also Parteen natives.
Alice believes the new road will “tear the place asunder”, while Donal added the council could easily upgrade the existing Parteen to Westbury Road, instead of proceeding with this controversial emerged preferred route.
A neighbouring house, which was previously owned by Pat Cherry’s late mother, will also be demolished. Currently unoccupied, it was sold in recent times to a local landowner and businessman.
Pat’s house will lose half of its site accommodating the septic tank and garden. “I was used to living in the countryside. Getting used to living alongside a dual carriageway with noise, smoke and traffic doesn’t bear thinking about,” he said.
Senior engineer, Tom Tiernan said this is the third time the council has consulted the public on this project.
“The process, which facilitates selection of the Preferred Route Corridor for a project such as this and further stages of its development, is clearly set out through regulation and is designed to facilitate public consultation in an open and transparent manner at certain pre-determined stages.”
Following the publication of a number of feasible route options in June 2011 at a public consultation event, over 100 written submissions were received from the public on foot of the Constraints Study Area and route option public consultations and all of these were considered in detail.
Further detailed work and analysis by the consultants over the last 15 months resulted in the publication of the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor. Mr Tiernan said all public submissions would be considered in great detail for a project that would ultimately bring huge benefits for South-East Clare, the north side of Limerick City and the region in general.