Parents and residents in Bearna will stage their third walking protest on Monday May 12 from 8am until 8.45am along the R336, calling on Galway County Council to urgently provide road safety measures for children walking to Scoil Sheamais Naofa who must navigate the busy R336 with no protection from fast-moving traffic.
Despite years of engagement, repeated calls to Galway County Council, many applications for funding grants, and political support, no action has been taken to address unsafe road conditions.
The busy road is lacking protection for pedestrians from high levels of traffic due to extremely narrow footpaths (which are insufficient in some parts to accommodate a child’s buggy or wheelchair ), inadequate warning signage and speed control, and the lack of a pedestrian crossing near the school.
In response to this continued inaction, residents have now launched a GoFundMe campaign to help fund road safety works themselves.
The first priority from funds raised is a professional road safety assessment, with any additional funds supporting safety measures such as signage, footpaths, and crossing works – infrastructure that residents say should be provided by the Council, not funded by the community.
The walking protest will be further supported by similar protests taking place at the same time across other Connemara villages including Na Forbacha, An Spidéal and Indreabhán to highlight the urgency of these issues and to call for action. This comes after two walking protests in April, which, despite huge public and political support and regional and national media coverage, have not prompted action from Galway County Council.
A spokesperson from the organisers, Bearna Parents Association Road Safety Subcommittee, says that: ‘Although there has been ongoing communication with the Roads Area Office and Active Travel Team at Galway County Council, we have not been granted a meeting with senior Council representatives. This lack of accountability is unacceptable. Our community is ready to work constructively – but we need to meet with decision-makers who can authorise change.
“Our campaign has received incredible support from adjacent villages, prompted questions in the Dail, and received widespread coverage but the Council’s lack of response has left the community feeling deeply disappointed and disillusioned.
“After the level of concern voiced by parents, school leadership, and elected representatives, we had hoped to see real solutions being put forward. It should never fall to parents to fundraise for basic road safety, but we are doing so because our children are at risk every single day,” they concluded.
