Several measures have been undertaken to improve a popular walking passage in Barefield, staff within the Ennis Municipal District have said but they have proven to be sufficient according to a local councillor. 

An appeal to “tidy up” the Farmers Rd in Barefield was lodged by Cllr Ann Norton (IND) at this month’s meeting of the Ennis MD and seconded by Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF). “It is overgrown with briars and weeds,” she flagged and said the surface under the bridge needs to be “re tarred as there are huge potholes that are gathering (a) huge amount of water”.

A patching of the road surface at the M18 underpass, clearing of the drainage system and cutting of hedges has been carried out by Ennis MD staff, senior engineer Eamon O’Dea outlined. “It is intended that the underpass and the immediate adjacent sections of the accommodation road will be surfaced this year”.

More pedestrians walking on the Farmers Rd have brought certain issues to light, Cllr Norton detailed. “With the amount of people out walking with COVID-19 and we’re quite limited with 5km, in one way it is great because people are seeing their own environment but we are also seeing issues”.

Gratitude for the surfacing work was voiced by the Barefield representative who said the manner in which it was done “wasn’t ideal”. She explained, “once we get showers, the smaller potholes will fill up, it is an area that seems to gather a lot of water and it needs proper resurfacing. It is an area that people use and that was designed so farmers would have access to their land, the way it has been maintained hasn’t been ideal.

“It needs a lot more work than what was done in the last number of days. On the motorway side of that walk, there is a lot of briars, are we now limited with what we can do along the verge, there is a huge amount of overgrown briars and branches, it is an accident waiting to happen because of the amount of people out walking, the whole area seems to be neglected,” Norton concluded.