The elected members of Mayo County Council agreed to indefinitely defer the adoption of a preferred route for the N59 Ballina to Crossmolina this week.
The decision to defer was proposed by Fine Gael councillor Eddie Staunton who told the meeting that the road would not be constructed until 2020 but that all lands along it would be frozen until then.
The motion to defer the decision received unanimous support across the political divide from the Ballina electoral area representatives. Cllr Michelle Mulherin told the meeting that it would allow people to put their view across to the designers, while Independent councillor Gerry Ginty, who strongly supported the deferral, said people were initially presented with four routes and then “mysteriously” a fifth route appeared and was chosen.
Cllr Ginty said the bottleneck that is caused at the entrance to the town (Crossmolina ) could be solved also if the council acquired the corner properties to free up some space.
Fianna Fáil councillor Annie May Reape told the meeting that the people have genuine concerns. “I have visited the site and there seems to be a little bit of a lack of consultation with the people in the area,” she told the meeting.
County manager Joe Beirne explained the implications of the deferral: “You can argue about consultation, but you have to produce a route that will survive the CPO stage at An Bord Pleanála level. We look at the N26. It has been there for the past two years and still no decision. The NRA won’t mind this deferral, they have no money for it. But now all five routes will be left on the table and it will affect everyone along the five routes, not just the one preferred route.”
