N4 crosses need cleaning they are up so long

THE white crosses on the N4 from Collooney to Castlebaldwin have become a familiar sight for those travelling on the main Dublin road these past couple of years. They tend not to grab the attention anymore like they did at the beginning which is quite natural I suppose.

But while travelling to Boyle last week for an FAI Junior Cup match my attention was brought once more to them. This time because there was a man in a hi- vis jacket tending to them.

As I got closer I saw that he was actually cleaning the crosses. A look left saw his van parked on the grass verge, with more crosses sticking out from the boot.

Replacing and maintaining the ones that are already up. Obviously a memebr of the N4 Action Group which have done more to push the cause for an upgarde for the lethal 12k stretch as any politican has done over the past number of years.

It was a heartening sight. These people are not for giving up and it is this kind of persistence that will eventually win the day for them.

On Friday night too other members waited patiently to see An Taoiseach when he came to a Fine Gael Brxit meeting in The Sligo Park Hotel.

The Taoiseach was late arriving but Bernard Mulhern of the action group didn’t mind waiting on the chance he may have a few words to press the case once more with Enda Kenny of the dire need for the project to be progressed more quickly that it is at the moment.

Again, a little show of persistence that this issue will not go away and much merited too for progress has been painfully slow.

In fact, no main contractor has been appointed yet and construction could be two or three years away.

Many speakers hammered home the point about the lack of infrastructure investment in Sligo over the past few years and the fact this stretch of road has been well finished by now is an indictment on all Governments over the past 20 years.

It’s just not a priority is it? And that’s why I admired so much that man who was cleaning the crosses and Bernard Mulhern this week for trying to keep the matter to the forefront when they must surely have despaired many times since they started their campaign.

Mr Kenny would only say at the Brexit meeting that the N4 was a priority and he hoped it would remain so after a review of the Captial Works Programme in June.

Local restaurant owner, Anthony Gray led a campaign for a motorway and we have every right to ask for one too.

In the meantime, we’d all settle for that final deadly stretch to be widened.

Is there no political will at a senior level to fasttrack this project? It seems there isn’t.

Money for archaeological surveys, house demolition and ground investigation works doesn’t cut it for anyone.

The Government just needs to announce a major allocation of funding so that a contractor can be appointed this summer and get this job started properly once and for all. Dublin is bursting at the seams and commuters extend to 11 counties now according to a recent report. The North West needs development to relieve the pressure on our capital and let’s start with getting access to here right.