COUGHLAN: ‘I THOUGHT I’D HAVE A BYPASS BEFORE MACROOM’
“I OFTEN thought I wouldn’t see this bypass, I’d have one myself first.”
So said Councillor Martin Coughlan as members of the Macroom Municipal District Council availed of the occasion of the October monthly meeting to welcome the announcement two weeks ago that the long-awaited bypass for town was to get the go ahead and the €280m funding needed for the work.
“I hope I’ll be here to see it finished and that the people of Macroom will be able to walk around and enjoy their own town,”
The Tidy Towns stalwart said that competition adjudicators had always mentioned they couldn’t properly judge Macroom due to the volume of traffic going through the town.
“Hopefully in years to come they will be able to walk around and we’ll get the pedestrianised zone so that people can walk around safely and enjoy their town
“It certainly wasn’t good for the infrastructure of the town over the past 30 years.”
At the outset of the discussion Cllr Michael Creed said he had met a minibus full of engineers who would be starting work soon.
“It’s all systems go thank God and I hope we’ll be here in three years’ time when it will be opened” said Cllr Creed.
“It’s a huge project and we’ve been a long time waiting for it,” he added, paying especial tribute to Agriculture Minister and Macrompian Michael Creed.
Cllr Ted Lucey also congratulated Minister Creed on the progress made on the bypass and recalled the work he and Martin Coughlan had done over twenty years to make representations on behalf of the bypass campaign.
“We went on four or five delegations and there’d be €50,000 or €100,000 coming a result – now there’s €280 million – a lot of people don’t believe it but the construction company is looking for accommodation and compounds – it is serious, it is going on.
“I’d like to compliment every public rep that was involved over the years who gave support and I’d really like to thank Minister Creed because for the last four or five years that’s where it’s been pushed.”
Cllr Gobnait Moynihan also welcomed the announcment “At long last something is happening,” she remarked.
She added that the construction of the bypass meant that work to promote the attractions of Macroom would have to be redoubled given that the emphasis would be on getting people to come off the motorway and visit the town when the bypass was finally built.
“The Mill Dam and the fairy garden are all the more important now,” she said, pointing to two local tourism projects that would enhance the appeal of the town.
Council senior executive officer Nicola Radley said that she had had a meeting with Pure Cork chief executive Seamus Heaney with a view to seeing how the full potential of the Bypass would be harnessed.
The plan was to establish a working group with local enterprises, Macroom E and others to ensure that the full benefits of the bypass would accrue to the town and wider community.