Thank you for allowing me to raise this matter. I wish to share my time with my colleagues, Deputies Séamus Kirk and Brendan McGahon.
Adjournment Debate. - Realignment of Ballymascanlon (Louth) Bridge.
I am sure that is satisfactory and agreed.
The bridge to which I refer has been the site of a number of accidents in the last few years but, tragically, an accident not so long ago when four people, two adults and two children from one family, were literally wiped out by a lorry at this location. This bridge has been the scene of a number of horrific accidents. At this location two years ago another four people were killed in one incident. For this reason, the three Deputies for the constituency have come together to raise it as an issue in the Dáil.
This bridge is at the end of two very long stretches of road leading to Greenore Port, at which there is quite a significant amount of live export cattle business. On the occasion in question there was heavy traffic on this road which, unfortunately, led to the tragic death of a family.
Just after the accident there was a mass meeting of residents in the area and over 500 people, including Dáil Deputies and other public representatives attended. The people, ordinary residents of the area, got together to show their concern at the level of accidents at this location.
This road is a regional route and because of that the responsibility lies with the local authority to fund any improvements. We are raising it here to make the Minister aware of this and to see if his Department will make sufficent funds available to the local authority to carry out those improvements. I ask the Minister to look at this favourably because County Louth has the worst traffic accident record in the State. That is because it acts as an access route for most of the traffic going northwards to Larne and Greenore from the South. In future the Department should look at the possibility of funding local authorities, not on the basis of length of road in each county or constituency, but on the basis of usage. If that were done Louth would deserve a very high proportion of funding for its roads.
I support Deputy Ahern. Unfortunately County Louth, the smallest county, heads the list of fatal statistics every year mainly because of its proximity to the Border and the fact that a national primary route bisects the length of the county. That, allied to its use on occasions as a drinking oasis for cross-Border drinkers and the lack of Garda surveillance on our roads, has contributed to the unhappy statistic of being head of the list of fatal statistics year after year.
It is a sad fact of life that eight young people had to die within a timescale of 22 months before this could become a priority within the system. I do not wish to apportion blame or make recriminations but a new bridge must be built to replace a 17th century stone bridge built for ponies and traps. We cannot continue to allow carnage of such magnitude — two multiple deaths, four people on each occasion, killed in 22 months. Let the Minister, for God's sake, make money available to Louth County Council to build a proper bridge.
I am glad of the opportunity to join my two colleagues in the constituency in urging the Minister to provide finance to realign the road at the Ballymascanlon Bridge and to provide it as soon as possible. They have outlined the appalling statistics in County Louth, a county which has two national primary routes running through it. This bridge is on a regional route and, in the normal course of events, maintenance and improvement works are the responsibility of the local authority. However, because of the urgency and because Louth County Council is not in a position to provide the resources necessary to carry out the improvement works, we hope that the Minister for the Environment will be in a position to help the county council in the matter. The accident rate at the bridge lends an even greater sense of urgency to the matter. The bridge is on the Greenore route, the road that leads off the N1 at the Ballymascanlon right turn to Greenore Port and it is a very busy and heavily used route. I appeal to the Minister to help as soon as he possibly can.
I understand the concerns of Deputy Ahern and his colleagues, Deputies Kirk and McGahon. I would like to take this opportunity to sympathise with the relatives of those killed in the recent tragic accident at Ballymascanlon. An event of that nature brings home to us all the very human consequences of road accidents.
Without wishing to distance myself from the issues involved I have to put on record, as my colleagues have already done, the fact that the road involved does not form part of the network of national roads and, therefore, responsibility for improvements rests with Louth County Council. The cost of such works normally falls to be financed from local resources supplemented by discretionary grants provided by my Department.
My Department asked the county council to initiate the design of a replacement bridge and approach roads and informed them that when proposals for this project are submitted they will be considered sympathetically in the context of the Estimates for 1994. The council has also been requested to undertake safety measures at this location, including the provision of a more elaborate advance warning system on the approaches to the bridge and the provision of high quality delineation through the section. I understand that these works are in hand. The cost of these measures will be met by the council's own resources or from grants for national roads which, this year, will amount to £996,000.
Good roads play a crucial role in road safety. Indeed the massive programme of road improvements undertaken in recent years has been carried out to the highest international safety standards and very considerable investment is being made in this regard in Louth. However, non-national roads around the country were designed and built before motor transport reached today's sophisticated and congested levels with, in many cases, all the inherent dangers attached. I urge all local authorities to bear in mind that there are immediate short term measures available which can do much to improve road safety at accident risk locations. I have in mind cutting overgrown hedges, improving sight lines, improving advance warning signs, speed reducing measures on the approaches to bends and the provision of road studs, etc. Such road safety measures are not massively expensive and will save lives, a very sobering thought.
I know that my colleagues in this House, particularly those from Louth, are extremely anxious and have approached me personally as well as raising the matter here in this House. I understand their concern and I hope, even though it is not within my general remit for national primary roads, to respond as positively and sympathetically as I can in the context of next year's Estimates to any proposals that I receive from the council in regard to the longer term solution. In the meantime the council is taking short term safety measures which are essential in such areas at present.