Chair of the roads and transportation SPC, Cllr Jarlath Munnelly, said that as much as he welcomes the national sustainable transport initiative, those on a national level “need to get into the real world” as “we are a million miles” from increasing the usage of public transport in the county, due to the sparse service which is currently in existence in the county.
Following a presentation by Michael Lyons, SEE for roads, regarding sustainable travel initiatives in Mayo, Fine Gael councillor Munnelly said that the overhaul in people’s way of commuting “will not happen by inconvenience to people”, and, “realistically”, if people have a car they will use it.
Fianna Fáil councillor Jimmy Maloney agreed that people who can afford a car will drive, and both Cllr Maloney and Cllr Munnelly criticised the train service in Mayo.
Killala based Cllr Munnelly said that the connector train from Ballina should run to and from Westport on a constant basis throughout the day and he criticised the fact that the Ballina train does not connect with the early bird service from Westport to Dublin before 9am.
Fine Gael councillor Patsy O’Brien said that a big push is needed in relation to the development of the western rail corridor in bringing the track from Tuam to Claremorris. The councillor from Ballinrobe said that the SPC should send a delegation to meet with the Minister for Transport to highlight this issue.
