TRAFFIC PROBLEM: Hopes for bypass of major Tipperary town rest with mid-term review of NDP

The best chance Thurles has of getting its need for a bypass progressed is under the mid-term review of the National Development Plan which is scheduled to take place next year, a public meeting on the issue was told last Thursday.

Hosted by Sinn Féin local election candidate Dan Harty, the meeting heard that sanctioning the bypass was more or less in the gift of Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan.

Mr Harty said that he had called the public meeting in Hayes Hotel to build a campaign and put together a committee to further the call for the work to be carried out.

However, Cllr Jim Ryan told the meeting that there was already a campaign and committee in place - the Save Our Square committee put together when a decision was made to move the post office from Liberty Square to the shopping centre.

Mr Harty pointed out that the plan for the project had the backing of the Chamber of Commerce, local representatives and Tipperary County Council.

At present, he said, any through traffic, especially heavy trucks and lorries, had to come down the town’s narrow roads, and the town was served by just one bridge across the river.

Mr Harty said that at present, Thurles was not in the NDP and there was great competition from other projects to be included in the plan.

He said that any campaign needed to be aimed at the mid-term review of the NDP and that campaign would need to be co-ordinated by the Chamber, the political parties and the Council.

“Tipperary Town is a good example of where the various groups came together and sent a proposal to the Department and they are now at design stage,” he said. “Their voice was heard.”

Mr Harty said that Thurles was “struggling” to get on to the plan and have its voice heard.

“We are getting left behind, but someone holding a golf tournament is getting prioritised,” he said in reference to the Ryder Cup being held in Adare, county Limerick in 2027.

Mr Harty said that there had been four or five deaths in the town in the past 20 years and Parnell Street and O’Donovan Rossa Street had “huge safety issues”.
He also pointed out that people can be stuck in traffic just trying to get from one side of the town to the other.

“The business in the town is being all but choked,” he said.

Cllr Jim Ryan said that there may have been a lack of co-ordination in the past, but the Save Our Square committee had since been working behind the scenes on the bypass.

“Let’s call a spade a spade, the only way to get a bypass is by a political decision made at a high level. It is purely a ministerial decision,” he said.

Cllr Ryan pointed out that the need for a bypass was first mooted as far back as 1958.

“We have a route picked. We thought it would be formality in 2007 ( for the 2007-2013 Capital Investment Plan), but the crash came. Thurles was not named in the 2013-2016 plan. We were left out again in 2016-2020 and again in 2020. Unless we get Minister Ryan to change his ways, we are all going to be long gone,” he said.

Cllr Ryan described the mid-term review as a “big year” to see if they can get the project included in the NDP.

“We need that meeting with Minister Ryan. He was invited to meet those in Tipperary Town and he asked the Council to draw up a plan. Tipperary Town has now jumped ahead of Thurles,” he said.

Mr Harty read out a letter from Deputy Jackie Cahill in which he stated he had advanced the need for an inner-relief road in Thurles as a priority.

The Sinn Féin candidate expressed his surprise that the Save Our Square committee had taken the need for a bypass on board.

Denis Kenny, from the floor, was also surprised that SOS had moved on to the bypass.

He agreed with a suggestion from Cllr Ryan that those at Thursday’s meeting should join with SOS in progressing the issue.

Mr Kenny also pointed out the parking problems at Parnell Street and called for no parking there between 8am and 6.30pm.

Other speakers from the floor also agreed that there should be just one group campaigning for a bypass.

Businessman Kieran Linnane said he feared that the bypass would become a political issue.

“It has to be non-party,” he said. “What is good for Thurles will be good for business.”

He said the priority must be to get the bypass in the NDP as there had been too many fatalities in Liberty Square.

Mr Linnane said that the inner relief road would see a bridge at Lidl and on to the Mill Road, which would take pressure off the current bridge at Liberty Square.

Another speaker from the floor pointed out that they drive down Parnell Street “on the wrong side of the road” because of parking issues.

However, Cllr Ryan revealed that it was hoped that issue would be solved as the consultants appointed by the Council to look at the town’s traffic management plan had recommended that parking be removed. The next step would be to meet the gardaí on the matter, followed by the introduction of bylaws.

Community activist Tommy Barrett said that he would believe Thurles was getting a bypass when he saw it.

“Tipperary Town is being proritised over Thurles and we have two TDs and five councillors,” he pointed out. “All I have heard over the years is talk and nothing happening.”

He pointed out that there could be a new Minister for the Environment before the mid-term review in 2025.

John Butler of Thurles Chamber pointed out that in relation to SOS, there was no point in making everything public as very often they were just asking questions.

“It’s Eamon Ryan’s decision, so it is political. Local government doesn’t have enough power,” said Mr Butler. “We had 3,000 people march to save the post office and it failed so you’d have to question our two TDs and councillors.”

Mr Butler, who runs Bookworm on Parnell Street, said that having no parking outside his shop didn’t bother him.

“Parking is a big problem on other streets and the answer is the bypass,” he said.

Cllr Seamus Hanafin there was a need to “consistently bang the drum” on the bypass in every meeting with the NTA.

He said that there was unanimity among councillors that they wanted a bypass.

In relation to the mid-term review, he said that it was important that it was a priority for TDs.

Former Thurles councillor David Doran described the lack of a bypass as “scandalous”, saying he represented the town for 15 years and Thurles was “suffering because of the lack of a bypass. The town is being choked by traffic. It is stifling business and affecting jobs.”

He said it was “inexcusable” that neither of the town's two TDs were present at the meeting.

Summing up, Mr Harty said that it was great to be invited to join SOS and that the platform was there to unite and the campaign will be stronger.

“I would like to thank everyone that took the time to attend and I’m happy that the meeting was a great success and achieved its aims.

“I would also like to thank the many people I have spoken to in person, by phone and text over the past week to offer their full support for this campaign.

“There are further initiatives in the pipeline for this campaign and these will be announced in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

The meeting was attended by Cllr Mícheál Lowry, but he didn’t speak.