How do you get to Ballina? It is a pretty simple thing for people who live in Mayo to direct you. But if you are a visitor travelling along the N17 into Claremorris along the main Galway to Sligo road, finding Ballina may not be that simple, it emerged this week. At the September meeting of Ballina Town Council, Fianna Fáil councillor Johnny O’Malley raised the issue of three signs for Ballina on the N17 which had disappeared, two of which have been replaced by directions to tourist attractions, The Museum of Country Life, Turlough House, and Ballintubber Abbey.
Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser yesterday, Cllr O’Malley was very angry about the removal of the signs and was demanding answers from Mayo County Council on the issues. “I don’t know when they were removed and changed, but it’s simply not good enough to have signs for Ballina taken down or replaced. There was one sign for Ballina shortly after the first turn for Claremorris and Ballinrobe on the road, then there was multi-destination sign which Ballina was on the bottom of which has been changed with Ballina removed, and then there was a sign for Ballina at the roundabout near the McWilliam Park Hotel which has also been changed, and Ballina taken out of it. It’s not good enough at all.”
With Ballina marketing itself as the salmon capital of Ireland and investing a lot of money in promoting tourism this kind of thing can have a very detrimental effect on Ballina’s tourist ambitions, according to the councillor. “If you’re coming down the country to Ballina you might not see a sign for it for a while, but when you get into the county you would expect that we wouldd be able to get it right and have signs for Ballina on one of the main roads in the county. Ballina is working very hard to promote itself as a tourist destination and what’s the point if you can’t find the place because there are no signs? The town council is investing €20,000 into tourism promotion each year and what’s the point if people can’t find the place?”
O’Malley is demanding the signs be replaced and he wants answers to why this was done in the first place. “Well, we have to have the signs put back in, because people will be driving down the road looking for Ballina and not know where they are supposed to turn off until they have gone too far. When that road was first opened we had this issue where there was no signs for Ballina at all, and we had to get it put on then. They must be replaced. But I also want answers as to who ordered the signs to be changed in the first place. It’s not like two fellows went out in a pick up truck and a couple of wrenches and decided to take them down themselves, they were ordered to by someone and I want to know who. The NRA approves the changing of the signs or removal, but they are requested to by the council. So I have asked for a report from the county manager Mr Hynes for the next meeting telling us why this was done and who ordered it to be done.”
