‘Fatality on stretch of road is a strong risk’ - Pedestrians neglected in Tipperary village

Council official James Swords has been told again by councillors that the road between Dundrum House Hotel and Dundrum village is being walked on by hundreds of people every week yet there is no footpath for pedestrians and so a fatality on the stretch of road is a strong risk if the council doesn’t act immediately.

Councillor Roger Kennedy told James Swords that he raised the matter last year but nothing was done about it. Cllr Kennedy raised a motion at last week’s Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District meeting, that “this MD applies for funding from the International Integration Protection Fund 2024 to install a proper footpath from Dundrum House Hotel to join the existing path to Dundrum village before a fatality occurs”.

Cllr Kennedy said that many are living in the Hotel and that: “there should be some way of making that safe for in excess of 200 who have fled the Ukraine. They have fled war. They have fled with their lives. They are happy where they are,” he said, adding that they want to go home but they are looked after here.

“Half of that section has a footpath, for the other half, the people from the Ukraine who are in the Dundrum House Hotel are walking on the verge,” he continued. “They are walking through grass margins. Muck and water in other places and buggies on the carriageway.

“It is an accident waiting to happen and there have been quite a number of near misses,” Roger Kennedy said adding that he wanted a sturdy surface and for posts to be put in place. I raised this matter with the Taoiseach when he was opening Stanwix House,” he said, adding that there were funds available and the Taoiseach told him “there is money in that fund”.

After conversations at the meeting about the matter Cllr Roger Kennedy said: “I note from the reply that the scheme I mentioned there doesn’t cover the parameters of what I’m reporting. The situation is that the road has already been passed under the roads fund for major upgrading from Dundrum House Hotel to Dundrum village.”

The councillor expressed his grave reservations about inaction at this key juncture. He stressed now, before a major incident, was the time for the Council to act and put in a footpath: “We don’t want a situation to arise where we are transporting them back in coffins,” he said stressing the gravity of the situation.

“We don’t want that to happen. We don’t want an accident to happen,” Cllr Kennedy said before adding passionately that the footpath doesn’t have to be state-of-the-art but “it needs to be done”. Cllr Mary Hanna Hourigan too felt strongly about the matter and agreed with Roger Kennedy that the situation was highly serious: “I had a very near miss myself last night when a fella came out of nowhere and only for I was driving slow, I’d have hit him. It is very serious and very mucky. They have no place to go into and people have actually fallen there and fallen out on the road!

“Everyone is talking about it,” the councillor continued. “They are saying ‘why are you, as councillors of the district, not doing something about this?’” Other councillors supported the motion and they too felt that this is beyond urgent at this stage. Cllr Burgess spoke on the matter and pointed out that even before the ‘Ukrainian Refugees’ came to Dundrum House there was a need for this project to be done.

Addressing the Council representative he said: “As a Municipal District we need to explore options here James,” he said before telling James Swords clearly that “the contributions are real and the concerns are real.” Cllr Kennedy added to that by stressing “that there would be community benefit”.

In response, the council representative James Swords said: “Funding is the major issue really. “The fact that, I suppose, once it goes outside the speed limit we generally don’t put in footpaths. The RI job is for the road structure, not the footpaths,” he said. 

“It is a significant footpath job, it is a kilometre of footpath works like,” Swords continued. “It is a significant project, not something we can do on a whim.” He added that the Motion as it stood was “not an option,” so the situation in Dundrum is set to continue for the foreseeable future.