New road is a highway to hell

Date Published: 01-Oct-2009

THE reality of life along the new Galway to Dublin motorway at New Inn has been revealed to be an isolating and extremely difficult experience for many farmers, homeowners and senior citizens whose properties are dotted along the route.

The Connacht Tribune this week spoke with a number of those living on the border between New Inn and Cappataggle, whose homes and lands are nowin the shadow of the massive highway.

Pensioner, Mary Kelly who lives alone has been cut off from many of her neighbours and has had her view of nearby villages, townlands and even the morning sun completely blocked out by the raised road that passes by her front door.

“One time I used to look forward to seeing the sun rise over the hills early in the morning when I would look out my window or I would look across at Highpark, but now I have this big heap of clay outside my front door and I can’t see anything,” she said.

Mary (67), who uses a walking aid says she gets “very depressed” at times when she thinks about being blocked off from all her neighbours on one side of her and the fact there is only limited access to those coming to her house from the cross at New Inn.

The bus which arrives three times a week to take her to the local Day Centre has difficulty turning when it comes to collect her and apart from that there are few who bother to make the journey to visit her now.

“I am hemmed in here and I am isolated. They did tell me before it was built that the road would be close to me, but I thought itwould be easier than this,” she says.

Meanwhile, Mary’s neighbour, John Dooley is under constant pressure to try and keep his farm in working order as his fences are constantly being broken down and his farm is still split to some extent as a result of the works.

“It’s a nightmare trying to get anything done. They are more interested in finishing that road than anything else and they don’t care what we have to go through or how we suffer,” he said.

While John had been assured any fences that had been knocked during construction work would be mended properly, he has had a number of instances in recent weeks where he has moved stock to fields that had been out of bounds for some time only to later find half his cattle heading off down the as yet unopened stretch of motorway.

“The worst thing is there is nobody you can attack over it and no one you can ring up and give out to and there’s no point in giving out anyway cos you’ll only end up giving yourself a heart problem.”

“I blame the NRA and the County Council for it, they should have some control over what goes on but they seem to leave everything to the crowd contracted to do it and they don’t care,” he said.