The deplorable condition of the N5 Dublin road between Westport and Longford was picked up by the national media this week when the Pat Kenny RTE Radio 1 show came to town.
The report follows the news that four multi-nationals employing thousands of workers in Mayo - Allergan, Baxter, Coca Cola, and Hollister are being forced to consider pulling out of the region due to transportation problems on the roads.
Chairman of Baxter in Castlebar, Mr Pat Gallagher, stated on-air that while the people working in Mayo were ‘top quality’, the infrastructure was simply not up to scratch.
“We export 25 containers of goods a day, yet for several years we have been receiving complaints about property arriving damaged. After checking this out we discovered most of the damage occurred between Castlebar and Longford. To prevent this happening we invested in extra packaging which now costs us up to €400,000 per annum.”
He added that bottlenecks through towns including Longford resulted in delays of up to a half hour each way. “Time is money on trucks so this is another additional transport cost we could do without,” he said.
Danny McLoughlin of Westport Chamber of Commerce said small businesses in manufacturing, tourism, and retail were also affected by the bad roads. “All of these sectors depend on top-class infrastructure to function but the N5 Westport to Longford road is the biggest issue. Even in terms of safety this route has recorded three times the average road accident rate.”
Deputy Michael Ring said it was “shame on the Government and the NRA” for the state of the road. “We are entitled to our fair share of the national cake and to keeping our jobs here at home,” he said.
Fortunately, a second focus on Mayo by the same radio show on Tuesday highlighted just how well things are going on other fronts in the county. Contributors including Joe Corcoran of the Castlecourt Hotel provided an upbeat picture of Mayo and its ability to come through the bad times once more.
