Fatality fears at three bridges in Mayo tourism hotspot

It is only a matter of time before there is a fatality at one of the three dangerous bridges at Cashel on Achill Island, a local councillor has warned.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Paul McNamara raised the matter at the December meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, noting that he had called for upgrades of the bridges on many previous occasions, to no avail. While road markings had worked in slowing down traffic, accidents still happened every week, particularly at the bridge just past Ted Lavelle’s pub.

“Anyone can see the chunks knocked out of it," Cllr McNamara remarked. "Thankfully, the motorists that use it every day are careful, and they realise the danger, but the bridges need replacing, and very soon.” 

Appealing to Mayo Co Council management, he said even the gardaí and local ministers are waiting for the matter to be resolved.

"The sad thing about this is, God forbid, if there was a serious accident, those bridges would be replaced in a matter of months. We saw this where a man lost his life on a road due to flooding, so without a fatality it seems we are not going to see any action."

Cllr Brendan Mulroy backed Cllr McNamara, saying: “Mayo Co Council seem to be paying lip service to the people of Achill on this. Cllr McNamara has been looking for these works since day one and it is a bit rich for us to be coming in here as county councillors and one of our colleagues just being ignored.” 

The council's Head of Roads Conrad Harley replied: “The three bridges are structurally sound, the problem is that they are too narrow; the parapets are right up against the edge of the road."

Mr Harley said the council applies for funding for new bridges every year but the money ends up being spent on emergency cases where bridges suffer structural failings and roads have to be closed. He suggested that road realignment funding would be a better option for the Achill bridges. 

"This funding stream would allow bridges to be realigned and take the sharpness off. It won’t happen overnight, but we can look at it this way and possibly put measures in that will keep it safer for the time being until we get the bigger money – and we will look at the roads programme for that.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.