Mullingar councillors are calling on the NRA to allow such local attractions as the Bloomfield House Hotel and Mullingar Golf Club be signposted off the N52.
Unimpressed with the council’s line that all signage must be in accordance with the NRA’s policy and that fingerpost signage already exists for these facilities, Cllr Aidan Davitt said the council was “putting its head in the sand”.
“I don’t think we should just be here to facilitate people getting from Dublin to wherever they’re going. We don’t have to pollute our motorways with every sign, but to not have the Bloomfield signed off the N52 is ridiculous,” he said.
Cllr Davitt gained support from Cllr Bill Collentine who said the hotel should be easier to find. “The sign says ‘Hotel’ but it doesn’t tell you it’s the Bloomfield Hotel. The signs are there, so why can’t they read Bloomfield House Hotel?” he wondered.
Cllr Ken Glynn added that the roundabout closest to these facilities featured a sign for another hotel in the town centre, and said he couldn’t believe “that two major tourist attractions in the town have been pushed out”.
Senior executive officer with the council Declan Leonard said that fingerpost signage was not the main issue.
“The hotel’s problem is people travelling on the N52 are past the junction before they see the signage. However the response from the NRA is that they wouldn’t be in favour of changing this, and that’s the difficulty we are in. The NRA controls the roads, and we have to go through them,” he said.
