Members of Mallow Relief Road Alliance met on Monday night to consider the €300,000 allocation for the Mallow Relief Road which was announced last week, and they afterwards released a statement, saying that “the allocation falls well short of the €1.2 million sought by Cork Co. Council to bring the project to the planning stage, and unless it is significantly increas-ed, it will be another serious setback in this very long-running campaign.”
With different views being expressed at the meeting with regard to the benefit or not of the funding, it was decided that clarity should be sought from Cork Co. Council in the first instance. In this regard, Cllr Gearóid Murphy has a motion seeking more information from this Friday’s meeting of Cork Co. Council, and this request will be supported by the other Mallow-based councillors.
Deputy Seán Sherlock, who raised the issue in Dáil Éireann yesterday, said earlier this week that, “This is an abysmal sum of money. It will facilitate some consultancy work but the allocation needed to be closer to €1 million for the project to get to the planning stage. That’s the second year in a row that we’ve had a setback of this nature, when the expectation was high, on the basis that we were further along the process than other projects.”
Cllr. Eoghan Kenny said: “The piecemeal approach and allocation for the Mallow Relief Road means it is in serious danger of falling off this Government’s radar. We need to ensure the allocation is increased and delivered and the road is brought to the planning stage so that there is no going back. The con-gestion in Mallow doesn’t allow for any more slip-ups on the relief road and Government must account for this latest paltry amount.”
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Mick Barry will question Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil next Tuesday, March 5th on the issue of his government’s failure to fund a Mallow relief road. Deputy Barry described the recent €300,000 allocation for the relief road as “a savage disap-pointment to the people of Mallow” who “had their hopes raised and dashed once again” by the parties in power. He added that, “I am looking forward to questioning the Taoiseach about the Government’s failure to properly fund a Mallow relief road. I intend to leave him in no doubt that failure to act will cost the Government parties at election time. The traffic issue in Mallow is too serious to just put this project on the long finger once again.”
Cllr. Tony O’Shea said, “I am delighted to see the Mallow bypass project back on track. This will allow Cork Co. Council to advance the project to final design and planning stage during 2024, and hopefully issue the CPO for the lands required here before the end of the year. Mallow is a beautiful town with good people, and we must do all in our power now to get this bypass complete and give the town centre back to the people of Mallow.”
Cllr Gearóid Murphy said, “It would be incorrect to say that we got everything we wanted, because we didn’t. However, it would be equally incorrect for me to say that this was terrible news, as the officials have indicated that they will be able to use this money to make meaningful progress towards getting the road to planning.”