Motorbike crashed into cattle on Laois road

Urgent safety action is needed on a road where a motorcyclist collided with crossing cattle, a recent council meeting was told.

Cllr Ben Brennan described a stretch of the N78 in Crettyard as a “death trap” as he insisted action be taken before there was a serious accident. 

He tabled a motion at the recent Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District meeting in relation to the road. 

Cllr Brennan asked: “That Laois County Council contact the TII to install safety measures on the N78 at the Creamery and Geneva Stores in Crettyard.”

“It’s absolutely crazy. All we are looking for is slow the traffic down. It needs to be a 50kmh zone,” said Cllr Brennan.  

“There is definitely going to be an accident on that, a serious accident. Everybody is concerned about that,” warned Cllr Brennan. 

“There is a man in a mobile wheelchair and he cannot get across the road because of the flow of traffic the whole time,” he added. 

In a written response read at the meeting, Assistant Engineer Conor Delaney stated: “Road Design will arrange a site meeting with Cllr Ben Brennan to identify issues at this location and will propose safety improvement works as required.” 

Cllr Aisling Moran said she wanted to reiterate what her council colleague had said. “We watched lorries trying to come out of the creamery and they are literally taking their lives in their hands when they come out,” she remarked.

“The woman that works there, she literally takes her life in her hands every single day she goes out there,” said Cllr Moran. 

She said Transport Infrastructure Ireland(TII) previously said they would look at the issues on the road. “They promised the sun, moon and the stars. They promised they were going to go up, do this, that and the other.  I have not seen nor heard one thing from then since then,” claimed Cllr Moran. 

“I think it is about time that they were held to account. I would ask the council to write to them and ask them to come and stand on the road with us and actually let them drive their cars out onto it and see how safe it is,” she said.

Cllr Aidan Mullins noted that the TII are regularly referenced at meetings but there’s often “no response or the work isn’t done”. He asked if they can be held to account. 

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Senior Executive Engineer Philip McVeigh said he wasn’t directly involved in the discussions but he was aware that there is “to and fro” between the council and the TII. 

“Someone is going to have to hold them to account. They promise the sun, moon and stars and they do nothing,” she said. 

Cllr Moran said she met with them in January and had yet to hear back from them. “They just sit in an office looking at a map,” Cllr Moran added. 

At the location raised in the motion,  Cllr Brennan said “that man has over 100 cows crossing that road four times a day…a motorbike came around one day and went straight into them.”

“The TII need to be held to account for all of this and come out of their office and come and see the problems,” said Cllr Brennan. 

Cllr Moran claimed the TII only want to get people from A to B quickly and “they don’t really give a sh*t about if it is safe or it’s not safe”. 

The TII were contacted in relation to the comments but declined to comment.