Tipperary Town’s main street is simply ‘a disgrace’

At this week’s Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District meeting a motion was made to write to Transport Infrastructure lreland and ask them to carry out sufficient temporary resurfacing works from the junction of O’Brien Street to the Cashel Road roundabout in Tipperary.  

Councillor Annmarie Ryan (Shiner) raised the matter saying that until the delivery of the proposed N24 bypass, Tipperary Town main street must continue to facilitate thousands of weekly vehicle movements (including HGV & LVG), therefore the road surface needs to be adequately maintained: “There was a section done from the Bansha Road roundabout down which was done overnight.

“It wasn’t a huge disruption so I suppose if something similar could be considered for the stretch that is taking a hammering at the moment, it would be much appreciated,” she said. 

Cllr Tony Black seconded the motion saying that there were areas along there that were “in very bad nick” he said. This sparked a return of an older debate, as Councillor Michael Fitzgerald said that he didn’t want to get into an argument but wanted to state that he doesn’t agree with temporary works on the Main street in this day and age: “It’s just not good enough. Are we going to write to TII again?

“They are going to tell us that we had the money and you, Councillor Ryan, voted against it. So did you, Councillor Black. Facts are facts. 

“The main street in Tipperary, with or without a bypass, has to be upgraded. If we have a bypass of Tipperary town in ten years time we will be lucky. But the main street will always be the main street and the main street in Tipperary Town is a disgrace and needs to be done right.

“Filling potholes on the main Street in Tipperary town in this day and age is just not good enough,” he said. Cllr Ryan said, in response to Cllr Fitzgerald’s comments, that: “There is a very big difference between temporary resurfacing and the job that was being pushed at the time,” before adding that the previous designs were not suitable for the town as there were no cycle lanes and no public realm enhancement. 

“That proposed design involved digging up the town for a year and a half and it didn’t deliver on cycle lanes and all the other active travel measures. That is why it was turned down.”

Cllr Black said that he didn’t want to drag up the past either but emphasised that there was no proper active design previously and businesses were suffering drastically. Cllr Fitzgerald responded by saying that he wasn’t against money being spent at all but said that: “We didn’t give the proposals the same level of discussion as what Cllr Ryan said we did. We didn’t get a chance to discuss them.”

In response to Cllr Fitzgerald, Cllr Ryan said that “there were tons of workshops at the time”. Councillor Marie Murphy added some more context: “I remember we got a report on the works for Tipperary Town, the N24 and N74, at about nine o’clock on a Wednesday night and we had a workshop at eleven o’clock on the Thursday morning.

“I went through that ninety odd page report in detail and at that workshop I highlighted various things. There was a proposal that we would spend six weeks talking to TII to try to get some amendments. Unfortunately that proposal lost when it was put to a vote and I think it was due to a lack of understanding as to what we were actually voting for.” 

Cllr Burgess, who chaired the meeting, said that the district is engaging with TII on the matter. He posited that everyone is in agreement that progression was needed to take the traffic and heavy vehicles out of the town: “That is a long road ahead and as elected members all eleven of us in this chamber have a big role to play in that,” he said.