Cautious welcome for progress on Dunkineely NS road safety plans

Road safety improvement plans at Dunkineely NS have moved a step forward, but there are still a number of stages to be completed.

Area Roads Officer Mark Sweeney updated councillors in the Municipal District (MD) of Donegal at the June meeting.

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“Great news that we are out of the Feasibility and Options stage,” he said. “But there are still more stages to go through.”

The project is being carried out to address the risk that children attending the school could be killed or seriously injured by motorists breaking the red light at the school crossing. The school is situated at the edge of Dunkineely village on the N56, and there have been a number of ‘near misses’ documented by parents.

Councillors at Donegal County Council have strongly lobbied for safety works to take place as a matter of urgency. However, because works on the main road come under Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) rather than Donegal County Council, progress is frustratingly slow for concerned parents and the school community.

Mr Sweeney explained that a safety audit had been carried out, as had the feasibility study. A detailed design was subsequently submitted to the TII for approval.

The next phases include planning consent, detailed design and procurement, and then construction can begin. 

News of this latest progress was welcomed by councillors, but they again stressed the urgency of the matter. 

Among them was Bruckless-based Cllr Michael Boyle (FG), who acknowledged the efforts made to date by his fellow councillors. He asked how long it was likely to take, and also raised concerns that there were not enough gardaí to properly police it in the interim.

Cllr Noel Jordan (SF) asked: “Is there a possibility that we could ask for a garda presence there as often as they can when the school comes back in September? It does work. When you see the patrol car parked there, the speed reduces dramatically.”

Mr Sweeney replied: “We have asked gardaí to maintain a presence there while we are waiting to get the scheme delivered.”

Regarding the timeframe, he said: “We will not be delaying on our part of it. And I will ask the question of how long the TII are talking about.”

Concerns were also raised about safety at a number of other schools in the MD.

Cllr Brogan said: “I don’t want to forget about Frosses NS. Cars are going around the corner too quickly. The one flashing sign there isn’t adequate. I have been advocating for more signs for a long time. I would like to see a flashing beacon there showing the speed.”

Mr Sweeney replied that such signs were being phased out due to a number of motorists using them as a target to see who could clock the fastest speed. 

He said that upcoming national measures on reducing speed in urban zones would likely be followed by plans to reduce the speed limits around schools to 30km/h. 

“We are awaiting guidance on that and will be moving forward once that comes,” he said. “We expect there will be a suite of measures that we will be putting in at schools.”

Cllr Brogan also referred to previously raised concerns about the crossing at Mountcharles NS, saying it was too close to a corner. 

Progress on the safety project at Scoil Aodh Rua Agus Nuala in Donegal Town was welcomed.

Cathaoirleach of Donegal MD, Cllr Micheál Naughton (FF) called for continued support of plans by the national school in Pettigo for footpath improvements and a walkway. Mr Sweeney said that his team were working with stakeholders on that project.