Alarm and outrage over the absence of a Road Crossing Warden in Cashel

The Cashel primary schools on the Old Road have over 600 students combined, and up until December 2023, the students were served by a School Traffic Warden on the Green. However, the Council has not been able to recruit a Warden since the retirement of the Don Higgins just over three months ago.

There is a huge emphasis on increasing the number of people choosing to walk or cycle to school nationwide as part of a healthier, safer and more sustainable society. This is echoed in the Tipperary Road Safety Strategy 2022 – 2030 also, yet there appears to be great difficulty in providing a fundamental service such as a School Traffic Warden.

The role has been advertised as a Community Employment (CE) scheme role since the end of 2023 but there has been no applicants. This may be due to the fact that to meet the criteria for this CE scheme role, applicants must fulfil certain criteria which means a lot of those interested in the role aren’t eligible to apply.

It is also a Temporary position and many may be looking for full time work. The situation is serious in Cashel. Traffic is increasing in rural Irish towns at a rapid rate.

There were 54 traffic fatalities on Irish roads up until March 27th this year. A startling fact is that there were more road deaths in Tipperary (with less than 200,000 people) than Dublin (with nearly 2 million people) last year.

As the death toll on Irish roads goes up almost weekly, the Local Authority may need to look at alternative ways of filling local traffic warden roles.

Councillor Declan Burgess spoke up for the school children at the recent Tipperary/Cashel/Cahir District Meeting and raised the issue but he was “very disappointed” with the Council management representative response.

“Due to a recent retirement, the road crossing warden on the Green in Cashel has been vacant since December. I am calling on this Municipal District to make arrangements to integrate this former CE role to an existing or new post within our outdoor personnel. This is a Health and Safety issue for residents in Cashel and students in St John the Baptist Boys NS, St John the Baptist Girls Primary School and Cashel Deanery School,” the motion brought to the meeting read.

While the reply wasn’t read out to the meeting, Cllr Burgess stated that he wasn’t happy with the reply he had received as it failed to address the issue in any sort of satisfactory manner: “I note the response but I try not to dwell on it,” Cllr Burgess said before adding:

“I am disappointed. The response has failed to address the concerns raised,” he said. Cllr Burgess, speaking about the broader school community, continued: “We are aware of the CE Scheme that was there. Don Higgins was there in more recent years and served the community well and unfortunately he had to retire.

“He would have loved to stay in the role because he was enjoying it. I want to thank him,” Cllr Burgess said, speaking about the important work Don had completed. Lamenting the issue wasn’t better addressed he said:

“It has been advertised, but no one has applied. There has been a significant effort from our supervisors - Eddie and Diane - and I want to thank them and indeed the school community has been promoting it, our own Municipal District has been promoting it and unfortunately CE schemes are harder and harder to fill these days” Cllr Burgess added.

“I am really concerned for the growing campus of three schools on the Old Road. They were served well by a Warden Crossing," Cllr Burgess said, stressing the importance of the role for the safety of the children walking to school daily in Cashel with an ever increasing amount of cars on the roads.

Nationwide the numbers dying on Irish roads and involved in accidents are high so it shouldn’t need to be stressed to the Council the importance of this role but Cllr Burgess spelled it out for them to make his point: “Can we configure this into a position that is there?

“I know the personnel are already at capacity in terms of the workload that they have in an ever demanding and growing scene in Cashel but I am really concerned about pedestrian safety. Like I said, there are three busy schools there and this is a huge issue.

“I attended a meeting with the management of the schools and parent representatives recently and there are huge calls to make progress here. I know the closing date is in April, and that has been pushed off because there is no one applying for it, so what happens now?” he wondered, before asking the big question on everyones lips: “What are the Local Authority prepared to do here?”

“I’m aware there are significant issues across the District in relation to Road Crossing Wardens but this is an existing role in a town with a large population attending those three schools so I’d like to see something better than what I have received,” he said whilst reflecting on the Council’s response.

Councillor Mary Hanna Hourigan seconded the motion at the meeting. The Council Representative in response spoke firstly of the fast approaching closing date for the currently advertised position, by saying “we will have to wait and see what is the outcome of that.

“I will speak with the Roads Director but already it was indicated there is a huge queue.” Councillor Burgess in response, pointed out to the Council Representative that Cashel is a town with a huge student population and answers are needed immediately.

“Every application will have an exceptional circumstance” said the Council Representative, adding that “but I will promise you faithfully that I will speak with the Roads Directorate and see what could be done as an alternative”.

The crossroads is close to the entrance of Our Ladys County & Surgical Hospital, Cashel and traffic is heavy all day long but in particular early mornings and evenings during school term.

During the discussion at the meeting Councillor Andy Moloney spoke of a similar situation in Cahir. Speaking in relation to issues surrounding the filling of the Warden role in Cahir, he said: “The only guarantee we got from a previous motion on it was that the County Council would facilitate the training of individuals or parents in the school to carry out the work.

“The Council did give that guarantee but, even at that, parents weren’t coming forward on it.” The situation drags on and there is no solution in place. The narrow footpaths are packed with children walking to school close to cars whizzing by. After the Easter break many children will face the cars at busy crossroads all alone on their walk to school.