Councillors push for safety measures outside Mayo funeral home
Ballina councillors are demanding safety works go ahead outside Hiney's Funeral Home on the N59 outside Crossmolina
Councillors in the Ballina Municipal District have demanded that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) implement traffic safety measures outside Hiney's Funeral Home on the Ballina Road near Crossmolina.
The call was made in light of an incident on January 6th last when a vehicle leaving Hiney's after a funeral was in collision with another vehicle travelling at high speed on the N59. Crossmolina-based Cllr Michael Loftus told last week's municipal district meeting that, fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident.
Cllr Loftus submitted a notice of motion calling on Mayo Co Council to extend the public lights on the Ballina Road and to put footpaths on both sides of the funeral home for the safety of people attending funerals there.
Responding, the council's senior executive engineer Orla Bourke said it is not current TII policy to provide footpaths or lighting along high-speed roads such as the N59 and it would not provide funding for these works. However, the engineer said she would refer the councillors' request to TII but suggested the owner of the funeral home may wish to consider the management of the on-site car park for 'efficient queuing' and the introduction of a shuttle bus service.
Cllr Loftus said he was not happy with the response.
"I don't accept this answer, it is not good enough. It is so lucky that no one was injured in the recent accident," he said.
"You can't tell me that public lighting doesn't go beyond the town, there are already two lampposts outside the town boundary."
Cllr Jarlath Munnelly said the funeral home will always be located where it is, so the council needs to deal with the issue.
"We have to deal with it, there will always be crowds of people there. We should make the case to the TII about this, we can't sit back and accept them saying no."
Cllr Mark Duffy likened the area to a "runway" and said the TII has to be urged to take action.
"It is so wide and so dangerous and we need to press TII for an adequate response."
