*Cllr Pat Daly. Photograph: Joe Buckley
Intervention from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has been sought to improve road visibility conditions and assist a business located on the outskirts of Ennis.
Following a request from Cllr Pat Daly (FF), a white line is to be put down across the junction for an approximate 20 feet outside the premises of US Wholesales at Edenvale on the Kilrush Rd in Ennis.
Acting senior executive engineer in the Ennis Municipal District, Paddy Tiernan confirmed in response to the motion that they had assessed the junction and will install both line marking and a stop sign at the junction.
An appeal from Daly to demolish the wall beside the stop sign was not successful. “The wall at this location is not in the ownership of Clare County Council and as such we have no remit to demolish it. However, we will investigate if this junction warrants an application to the Department of Transport as part of a low cost safety scheme,” Tiernan advised.
Commitment to carry out works is “very positive,” Cllr Daly acknowledged. “The speed of cars coming from Kilrush is very fast, imagine coming up to a junction with no stop sign, it is very serious,” the Mayor of the Ennis MD flagged.
Difficulties manoeuvring the ownership of the wall were conceded by Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) who commented, “It is a dangerous junction at the best of times”.
Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) told the meeting she visited a gentleman living down the road alongside the senior engineer. She questioned if the wall could be removed. “The wall is in private property, at the minute it is serving the purpose of keeping an animal in the field,” Mr Tiernan replied. He suggested applying for a low cost safety scheme similar to what was done on the Tulla Rd in Ennis as one potential avenue, “we need permission from the landowner to do that and we haven’t made an approach yet”.
Works to allow for the operation of a one way system for the Spancilhill Fair were praised by Cllr Murphy and this was echoed by Cllr Colleran Molloy.
Consideration must be given to the type of vehicle travelling the road, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) believed. “The nature of the business is that people are going in with trailers to pick up ride on mowers, it is a junction that can be dangerous and that particular stretch of road is straight and wide”.
Addition of a stop sign was lauded by Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF).
Efforts to tackle the wall should be upped, Cllr Daly felt, “the wall belongs to the previous owner Ms O’Neill, we might make the approach because it is causing a visual affect on this road. TII need to look at the situation, it is very dangerous”.
