Despite advice from the executive of Mayo County Council and a compromise proposal to delay a decision for a month to seek legal advice, the elected members of Mayo County Council this week voted not to extinguish a public right of way at a junction at Carrowbaun, Swinford.
County manager Peter Hynes told the meeting that the decision to extinguish the public right of way had been taken on health and safety grounds and reminded the members that there had been a bad accident at the junction there. However Fine Gael whip Cllr Joe Mellett with the backing of his local area colleagues Cllr Eugene Lavin and Fianna Fáil Cllr Jimmy Maloney opposed the extinguishment of the right of way.
Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray, asked if the councillors would become legally responsible should an accident happen at this junction if they did not go with the advice of the council executive and extinguish the right of way. The county manager told the meeting that the council did not have that information to hand. Cllr Murray then proposed that a decision on the issue be delayed by a month so the council could get that advice and give it to the members, he was seconded by Cllr Richard Finn. That proposal was put to a vote and was lost by 21 votes to six in the chamber, with the members voting not to extinguish the right of way at the junction.
