Nenagh councillors call for action to upgrade lights and footpaths in Ballingarry village

Claims that Ballingarry is the “most neglected” village along the entire N52 route, which stretched from Nenagh to Dundalk, have been rejected by Nenagh Municipal District Manager Marcus O’Connor.

Cllr Michael O’Meara made his comments at the November meeting of Nenagh District Council when calling for work to be carried out on the village’s public lighting system and footpaths.

“Our hands are tied as we need the blessing of the TII and I am appealing to the executive to put Ballingarry on the list for the TII meeting,” he said. “The community is extremely frustrated. They are only a dot on the map for the TII but to the people of Ballingarry it is their home and they have been neglected.”

Cllr O’Meara said that if the village was not under the TII, the Council would have got the work done.

“We have to get the finger out for Ballingarry,” he said.

Cllr O’Meara was supported by Cllr Joe Hannigan, who said it needed to be decided who looked after the village.

Cllr Ger Darcy pointed out that he had previously called for the village’s public lighting to be upgraded and extra lights to be installed.

“There is a 100m stretch without lights,” he said.

He said there was also the need for traffic calming measures in the village due to speeding motorists.

“The village feels it has been neglected and they have to a certain extent,” said Cllr Darcy.

However, Mr O’Connor denied Ballingarry had been neglected, saying extra funding had been got for road resurfacing. He revealed that the lights will be upgraded to LED as part of a countywide programme.

Mr O’Connor said that lighting from the village’s housing estate to the village itself and the footpaths would need to be looked at and the Council will put a proposal to the TII when they meet them in December.

Following Mr O’Connor’s response, Cllr Hannigan said: “I wouldn’t be thanking the TII for work at the Glue Pot, that was an emergency situation.”

Cllr O’Meara disagreed with Mr O’Connor’s response saying: “It is a desperate situation. I wouldn’t be raising this if people were not being neglected.”