“SUBSTANTIAL” costs associated with the construction of a footpath outside St Mary’s Church in Kilmurry McMahon have been cited by senior engineers in the West Clare Municipal District following requests for the infrastructure.
ESB previously built the footpath outside the school in Kilmurry McMahon, Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) appealed to staff in the West Clare MD to add a footpath and lighting outside St Mary’s Church “to join with” the existing path “to accommodate traffic at funeral and church services”.
There is an approximate distance of 600m between the existing footpath near the community centre and the requested area outside the church. However, the cost of constructing the footpath “would be substantial,” senior executive engineer Alan Kennelly flagged. “If the proposed footpath is constructed to the standard of the existing, then land acquisitions and the piping of significant amount of roadside drainage will be necessary”.
He explained that public lighting ordinarily is not provided on footpaths outside speed-limited areas “for road and traffic safety reasons”. The road design office are not in favour of additional lighting as the path is located along “a regionally important road (R485) where the maximum speed limit applies”.
Conducting a cost/benefit analysis would also be difficult, Kennelly believed. He noted that Cllr Keating suggested its main purpose was for funeral and church services which he described as “relatively rare occasions”. Car-parking facilities are already available at the church grounds and a property across the road, the engineer advised. “The Church also owns other property in the immediate vicinity. It is possible that the necessary car-parking facilities could be provided by the Church at a far cheaper cost than the footpath requested and at no cost to the public purse”.
Kennelly said the footpath could be included in the MD’s next Active Travel application but outlined that a budget was not available at present to carry out the request.
Since first raising the matter two years ago, Cllr Keating maintained, “The landscape has changed considerably since, beyond the church we’ve two new houses built, I don’t think it’s a question of buying land, most members will know that ESB Moneypoint did the footpath from school to the centre and what they were looking for was bit to be done from centre to the church, things are back to normal there is a lot of traffic”.
Regarding the existing car park adjacent to the church, Keating commented that it leads to a side road and presently does not have “major room”. He added, “we’re living in an era where we have to be conscious of traffic and safety. Safety is paramount now no matter what we’re doing. I don’t like when somebody says we can’t do this or can’t do that, we are a Council at work and are well capable of getting the job done”. Similar issues are evident in Ballynacally, he highlighted.
Cathaoirleach of the West Clare MD, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) seconded the request. Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said the “logical development” was for the footpath to be constructed.
Speaking at a recent sitting of the West Clare MD, Kennelly explained that “additional difficulties” are presented from a traffic and safety point of view by footpaths in areas outside the speed limited zones, with examples in Kilmurry McMahon, Ballynacally and Kilrush referenced.
