“You cannot buy safety, you cannot undo an accident”.
So the Chair of the Castlecomer Municipal District said at the group’s recent gathering.
Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh and the other North Kilkenny councillors had discussed a range of works that had been carried out across the area.
Cllr Cavanagh says safety measures must be introduced in areas where they’re needed, telling KCLR News “I’ve lived long enough to know that work often takes place after there’s been a fatal accident or indeed after somebody’s been seriously injured and I think we’ve got to be proactive and anywhere that we need safety measures put in place, and the place I was actually referring to is Graigue Cross which is between Kilmanagh and Callan and when you’re coming from the Ballykeefe side you can’t see left or right but Philippe has promised that work will take place there next year”.
Meanwhile, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick says a stretch going through Castlecomer, from the garda station to the hall, also has additional measures due; “The pedestrian crossing again there at the enterprise centre, beside the garda station and that will help people crossing there at that point and particularly there’s also people in the SOS unit there and that’s very important and also up at the hall where there’s going to be a crossing upgrade there and again so many people use the hall and there’s also going to be other safety features”.
He says “We’ve asked them to proceed and try to get these safety features in place as quickly as possible but also to engage with some of the local businesses about some little concerns that we may have about some of the on street parking and to facilitate that, particularly for mass times. Safety is very very important, but just that little bit of engagement with the relevant stakeholders there is important too.”
And Cllr Fitzpatrick adds “It’s very good news. It’s great to be safety features again and that stretch of Kilkenny Road is an area that we’ve raised concerns with the Garda Siochana in our Joint Policing Meetings and also to make sure these crossings are put in place as soon as possible. Again, good news for Castlecomer, and again, further development of Castlecomer with these safety features “
