Anger mounts over Tipperary town by-pass delay

A Tipperary Town councillor has come out against the provision of an inner relief road for Tipperary Town as proposed in a three year vision for the town announced last week.

Cllr. Denis Leahy said first and foremost the town needed a by pass but in the interim an inner relief road was essential.

He insisted that that inner relief road should extend from the Clonmel road out to the Limerick road and should not involve traffic using the centre of the town which is what was  proposed by Pat Slattery, Director of Tipperary County Council who has been appointed to lead up a three year plan for the town following the intervention of Taoiseach Leo Vardakar.

"The inner relief road should not come out in the centre of the town. We want an inner relief road from the Clonmel road to the Limerick road. We need an extensive inner relief road" said Cllr. Leahy.

He said the type of inner relief road that was being proposed now was similar to the one proposed some years ago which had received huge opposition.

"Mr. Slattery has proposed a relief road that would come out inthe middle of the town, that is just not good enough" he said.

Cllr. Leahy said it was disgraceful that Tipperary had been leapfrogged by towns for a proper by pass for years.

He said a proper by pass was mooted decades ago and was formally sanctioned by Minister Cullen in 2007. Since then nothing had happened and  Tipperary town had been overlooked  as towns like New Ross and others had since been approved.

Cllr. Leahy said he had opposed an increase in commercial rates because of the failure of the government to provide a by pass and other issues.

"The council brought in a system that introduced all towns having the same commercial rate which meant increases for Tipperary and Carrick. That was very unfair, why should people in Tipperary pay the same commercial rates when they have a motorway going through their town and they don’t have anywhere near the same footfall as Clonmel or the level of industry ." said Cllr. Leahy.

The issue of the N24 and the by pass of Tipperary town  was discussed at a meeting of Tipperary County Council on Monday when members were told  that the upgrading of the N24 Limerick to Waterford was one of   twenty three national routes identified by Transport Infrastructure Ireland  as priority projects.

In order to progress  the project the route has been divided into two sections, Waterford to Cahir and Cahir to Monard. The first stage involves the preparation of a project appraisal plan for both sections. Both these plans have now been completed  and referred to Transport infrastructure Ireland for consideration and the council was awaiting an outcome .

Cllr. Andy Moloney said the council needed to by pass the TII and go directly to the Minister. If the N24 was not done soon Munster and the West of Ireland would be left behind.

Cllr. Kieran Bourke said the N24 should be given urgent attention  and he was waiting years for work to be carried out on the N24 outside the schools.

Cllr. Siobhan Ambrose said she was told the N24 by pass was the top priority in terms of infrastructure for Tipperary County Council yet it was disappointing not to see more progress on the matter.

Cllr. Michael Fitzgerald said it was important to keep the pressure on TII and the Minister concerning the N24 by pass for Tipperary town.

Cllr .Martin Browne said having the N24 run through Tipperary was a disgrace.