Ballindooley’s “Berlin Wall”

Date Published: 15-Jan-2008

THE village of Ballindooley would be split by a barrier akin to “a Berlin Wall” and submerged by an M50-style roundabout if the current design for the outer city bypass goes ahead, it was claimed.

The village on the Headford Road had special envelope status under the previous county development plan, a protection which was removed in the current plan drawn up in 2003 to facilitate the bypass, Peter Sweetman contended to the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into the scheme.

Resident Michael Tierney said he goes through the village at least four times a day and regularly visits the local shop and garage.

The plan for the bypass involves constructing an 8.4ft high noise barrier through the centre of the village, with no provision for a pedestrian crossing on either the bypass or the realigned N84, he told the hearing. The Ballindooley junction will be spread over 10 acres, which will be four times the size of Eyre Square.

According to an assessment of the impact on the human…..