TD says 'unaccountable' staff in Dublin shouldn't be deciding on Laois roads and bus shelters

Unaccountable State agency staff in Dublin should not be deciding the locations of bus shelters and road layouts in Laois, a TD has said. 

That was the opinion of Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley, who said the council area engineers and councillors should have a say in developments along national routes in their county.  

He emphasised his point by highlighting recent issues with bus shelters and a road layout in Portlaoise and in Mountrath.

Dep Stanley welcomed the rollout of new bus shelters in Laois but said he believes there should have been local input from area engineers and councillors. In Mountrath, he said the new bus stops are leading to traffic congestion as there is no pull-in area for the buses when they stop.  

He said if a bus arrives early at the stop in the middle of the road in Mountrath while the driver waits until the scheduled arrival time before it can set off again. When this happens, traffic behind gets backed up or has to try and get around. He noted buses are also known to arrive at the two new stops on opposite sides of the road at the same time meaning nothing can get by. 

“It is great to get the bus shelters but this is something that is going to come up again and again,” he said. 

Dep Stanley said “the area engineers and the councillors need to make these decisions.” 

“It is the complete destruction of local government and the people who make decisions are unaccountable, they are faceless,” said Dep Stanley. 

He was speaking about what he deemed “dictacts” from Transport Infrastructure Ireland(TII) and the National Transport Authority(NTA) in relation to road layout and bus shelters on national routes in Laois. 

He said there would have been room on Patrick Street in Mountrath for a bus to pull over but it wasn’t given consideration. 

“The answer given by the TII is that they are traffic calming measures,” he said. 

Dep Stanley said “the same logic” was applied when work was being carried out on the Abbeyleix Road in Portlaoise. He said  a right turning lane should have been in place out beyond Supervalu heading for Abbeyleix and too much room was given to paths and cycle lanes.  

Elsewhere in Portlaoise, he said there was room for a “pull-in space” at the outbound bus stop in Kilminchy but only half of it was used. 

“This isn’t the council’s fault. These are national dictats that just make no common sense,” said Dep Stanley. 

“This is an example of local democracy being stood on its head,” he argued. 

Dep Stanley called “for the councillors to be given more leeway on these matters and for the council to have more input.” 

He said the process of applying for a bus shelter was far too “onerous” and complicated. He said the process is too slow and areas like Castletown, Borris-in-Ossory and along the Athy to Castlecomer Road still needed bus shelters. 

He said bus shelters were vital to promoting the use of public transport and the process needs to be far simpler. 

“We have to contact somebody in Dublin to get a bus shelter,” he explained. 

Dep Stanley said the powers to approve a bus shelter should be devolved to local authorities.