School crossing group in plea to An Taoiseach

A campaign to improve a pedestrian crossing at Mountshannon National School was put directly to An Taoiseach Brian Cowen recently.

The county manager was this week also issued with a letter and a petition with more than 200 signatures from concerned members of the public looking for the county council to erect lights at the pedestrian crossing in the interest of public safety.
School principal Jim Collins has highlighted the importance of a pelican crossing as the school is adjacent to a busy regional road.
“We have an issue with a pedestrian crossing, which we got as part of an arrangement with the new childcare centre. It is neither this or that. It is unfinished and because it is unfinished it is a danger. It would be better not to have it at all, than to have it in the condition it is in. There are line markings to show there is a zebra-crossing there, but it should be a pelican crossing with lights. What is happening is that a child can walk out and think they have the right of way, then a motorist, particularly a motorist exceeding the speed limit, is not aware there is a pedestrian crossing. There have been a couple of close shaves here recently and it is only a matter of time before there is a fatal accident,” he stressed.
He added that the school did not wish to take sides but rather sought a speedy resolution.
“I believe the council is responsible and should just do it. I’ve written a letter to the county manager. If there was a serious injury or a fatality there, it would only take them a couple of days to put it in and I’m asking for them to do it before that happens. Another issue is the blatant ignorance of motorists to the speed limit, which is in place there,” he said.
When the Taoiseach was in Mountshannon he was shown a letter and a petition highlighting the concerns and, according to Mr Collins, he sympathised with the situation.
Meanwhile, Molly Lynch O’Mara of the parents’ association has said, “This is about the children and road safety is paramount. What good is it if there is blood smeared all over it? You witness a near-miss nearly every time you’re there at the high peak congestion time. It is a good straight road and people tend to speed on it. The council said that they couldn’t put speed bumps on the road because it was a main road but it would be great if we could get a stoplight. I lost a cousin aged 16 who was knocked down crossing the road. It does happen. I have two daughters aged eight and 10 in the school and my fear is for them and their friends,” she said.
Clare County Council senior executive engineer, Sean Lenihan has stated that the responsibility lies with Mountshannon Community Council, who developed the childcare facility located adjacent to the national school. He explained that a planning condition required the group to put a pelican crossing in place.
“We made necessary improvements at the time of the planning permission. Their drawings clearly show the pedestrian crossing. To improve matters and to help the situation we increased awareness and put down some lines and we put signage in place. We can only do what we can do. They are currently in breach of planning and planning enforcement may have to get involved,” he said.
He acknowledged that the council received complaints from the community, adding, “I’m available to meet to resolve it amicably and the sooner this is resolved the better.”
Speaking on behalf of Mountshannon Community Council, former chairman Paul Bugler stated, “The point we are trying to make is that it has taken quite taken a lot out of the community of Mountshannon to provide this facility. The council have got major development contributions in the area and we feel, while it is a condition of the planning, the county council should still have responsibility for road safety measures.”
He said the issue for the community council is financial. “This was a voluntary project. It was grant-aided and cost €1.04million. We have put a lot of services in place for the community and the county council has been left off the hook for service provision, in many respects. We don’t think its good enough. They got funding of €1.7 million in development contributions, where has that gone? We will work with them, we want to make the point that they have been absolving themselves of responsibilities they would have had previously and are basically asking the voluntary sector to come up with it instead,” Mr Bulger said.
He also called for the council to put lights in place or traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps.