The parents of a young Mayo woman who tragically lost her life in a car crash were among a small deputation who travelled to Brussels recently with MEP Jim Higgins.
The EU is to investigate local authorities’ road surfacing procedures following a petition submitted by a Donegal man, Mr Sean Farren, whose daughter Sinead died after her vehicle went out of control on a section of road which was undergoing works and which was left unfinished. Mr Farren and his wife Magdalene were accompanied to Brussels by Ann and Tommy Gallagher from Achill.
Their twenty-two-year old daughter Aisling, from Bunnacurry, Achill Island, died on December 22 2004 when her van collided with a truck on a stretch of road near Mulranny. The accident happened at Murvaigh, one mile outside Mulranny on the Newport side, where the road had recently been resurfaced. After the accident investigators looked at the type of material which had been used to resurface the road. It was believed that this was the same material used at Kentstown, Co Meath, where five school children lost their lives.
Following Aisling’s accident Mayo County Council, in consultation with the National Road’s Authority, commenced laying hot rolled asphalt surface to the stretch of road where the crash occurred.
At the time of the accident Aisling’s father highlighted that the road surface was a dense bitumen macadam surface, which was an unfinished surface. He complained that signage in the area was insufficient and didn’t alert drivers to the fact that the surface was temporary. Following the accident the council erected warning signs and temporary traffic lights.
The European Parliament's Petitions Committee is to begin investigating the procedures used by Irish local authorities for the maintenance of non-national roads.
