Waterford council asking local representatives to put political pressure on N25 issues
The state of the N25 road was brought up at the most recent sitting of the Plenary Council. Photo Dan Linehan
As is customary now, the state of the N25 road was brought up at the most recent sitting of the plenary council.
Fianna Fáil councillor Tom Cronin first raised the issue, saying, “I want to bring up an issue that I’ve brought up a few times before and that’s the state of the N25. From Youghal Bridge to Kilmeaden roundabout, there’s been a lot of crashes particularly in recent times. There was one at Cleary’s Cross."
He continued that some crashes were so severe, “They’ve had to cut people out of vehicles."
“It would appear to me that Cork County Council are far ahead of us,” he said in relation to their section of the N25, which is from Midleton to Youghal bridge.
“They seem to be miles ahead of us where funding and all that is concerned.”
Director of Services for Waterford City and County Council Gabriel Hynes acknowledged, “We have some structural defects.”
Speaking about the issue of funding, he said that the council “did look for an additional two million. We’re awaiting that from the TII.”
“That’s the short term. Obviously, in the long term, upgrading the N25 is crucial for Waterford. Not only from a safety point of view, but from a Dungarvan traffic point of view as well," Mr Hynes said.
“I want to assure you, from an executive point of view, we made a detailed submission to the national planning framework last year. We made several submissions to TII."
He added that he would also be making a submission to Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien.
He explained that submissions relating to the N25 in both Kilkenny and Cork were getting progressed, but that “we in the middle are getting left out.”
“We need to ensure, all of us, that we put enough pressure on central government to ensure that the N25 is brought to an initial stage, which is investigating what the options are in relation to Waterford," he said.
Somewhat defeatedly, he added: “Even if they started planning now, it would be 10 years before we’d see construction completed.”
