A decade after tragedy, Co Galway's Kilmeen Cross Action Group want answers
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It’s a decade since 84-year-old Kieran Flannery of Hollyhill, Gurtymadden, Loughrea, died following a road traffic incident on the bog road on the N65.
A year later, his daughter Jackie Flannery and neighbour Gavin Treacy formed the Kilmeen Cross and N65 Action Group, determined to prevent another family suffering the same heartbreak.
And still, almost a decade after that first meeting, the local community is still waiting for safety measures at one of East Galway's most dangerous junctions.
Now - marking the tenth anniversary of her father's death on May 20, 2016 - Jackie returned to the roadside with a simple plea.
"I don't want another family to go through what I went through," she said.
"Every day I pass that road and I see my father lying lifeless on the ground. This campaign was set up in his honour and for all of those who have died. It is hard to understand unless someone loses a loved one that way.
"What happened to my father was because of the road and nothing else. I swore I didn't want anyone else to go through what I go through still every single day after 10 years."
She spoke of how her neighbour Gavin supported her throughout.
“He was with me throughout and asked how I would feel about setting up a campaign,” she said.
“The two of us pulled in the residents of Kilmeen Cross and together we began. Someone has to be responsible at the end of the day.”
I don't want another family to go through what I went through
Questions over the future of the scheme emerged at last month's meeting of Galway County Council, where Independent Cllr Geraldine Donohue sought a timeline for the delivery of a roundabout and lights at the junction and asked when work would begin.
Speaking to the Connacht Tribune, Cllr Donohue explained that she travels that road regularly and knows the dangers.
“People go down the wrong way travelling from Portumna to Loughrea,” she said.
“There have been a number of RTAs at that location. Unless you know the road, it is really dangerous, especially on a dark evening.
“You have to navigate it coming into winter. The enhancement is long overdue and we are no further along. It is really frustrating.”
In response, Galway County Council said it identified a preferred option for the junction in 2022.
In 2023, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) allocated €50,000 to progress the design and environmental assessment of the scheme.
However, the council confirmed that the funding was never intended for construction.
It also revealed that plans to appoint engineering consultants were abandoned after tender prices were considered prohibitively high.
Instead, Galway County Council's roads design section completed a preliminary design in 2024.
Despite that progress, construction funding is still unavailable, and there is no indication of when work will begin.
Meanwhile, the action group has spent almost nine years lobbying public representatives and TII for improvements.
For Jackie, the council's latest response only reinforces how little progress has been made.
"In 2023, we had a public consultation and a design was finalised and chosen at that point," she explained.
"We were very happy with that. All of a sudden, it didn't progress. TII did not accept the quote and it went back to the local authority.
"It is not good enough.”
The delays have also been raised at national level and Jackie has questioned whether it “should go back to the TII” as they have the responsibility for national routes.
There have been a number of RTAs at that location. Unless you know the road, it is really dangerous, especially on a dark evening.
In May, Galway East TD Louis O'Hara (SF) asked the Minister for Transport, Darragh O'Brien, when TII would progress the redesign of Kilmeen Cross on the N65 outside Loughrea.
In his reply, the Minister said TII was best placed to provide an update on the project and confirmed that the parliamentary question had been referred to the agency for a direct response.
"I am making a plea to TII and Galway County Council to secure funding for the lights and the roundabout and to ensure the project is started and completed in 2027," continued Jackie.
"The TII is always looking for accident statistics and we have enough of them on the N65. We want it finished and no more excuses."
The latest delays contrast with expectations expressed several years ago.
In 2018, then Galway East TD, now Minister of State, Seán Canney (Ind) said the design phase was nearing completion and that the scheme would move to tender and construction once that work finished.
This month, Independent Ireland Cllr Declan Kelly has written to the Minister to highlight “the stranglehold that TII has on the N65”.
“The ongoing saga of the Kilmeen Cross junction continues to highlight this situation with a new configuration and night-time lighting urgently required,” his correspondence stated.
For Jackie, the safety concerns extend beyond Kilmeen Cross to other junctions on the N65, including Kilcooley and Healthlawn.
And she believes the uncertainty has also left local landowners in limbo.
"Landowners are left in limbo," she said.
"The council need to get back to those people. It is frustrating. Someone has to take the finger out. I don't accept it, nearly three years on – why can't they contract out the work instead of putting it on the long finger?"
Despite the setbacks, she says the campaign will continue.
"We will continue to fight the case again," she said.
"This time we have to continue stronger and bolder in memory of the people who have gone including my father."
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.