Rancour persists over axed schemes 

Councillors have urged Mayo County Council to “exert more muscle” in order to restore two dropped Smarter Travel schemes.

A €170,000 investment in smarter travel in Ballyhaunis was pulled by the National Transport Authority (NTA) while funding for schemes in Bonniconlon (€170,000) and Attymass (€40,000) was also removed. The matter was raised at the October meeting of the council and again at this month’s gathering.

“Like the members, I am disappointed that those two projects were knocked off the list but I am going to still liaise with the Department in order to get them back,” said Director of Services Tom Gilligan. “At this moment in time we need to do a bit of work on both projects in order to them on the priority list.”

Mr Gilligan said the Department will look at the schemes again for 2024 but the news was not well received.

“I’m not at all happy with that answer,” said Bonniconlon-based Cllr O’Hara. “That answer has been coming back for the last three years. We were promised €170,000.”

Ballyhaunis-based Cllr John Cribbin supported his colleague.

“When I highlighted the matter here last month I thought it was going to be taken up as a priority. It’s obvious that you haven’t put as much pressure on as I feel you should have,” said Cllr Cribbin.