23-02-2002

Roadblock

PUBLIC officials, landowners and gridlock motorists will have to wait until the beginning of March to find out if work is to begin on the Monasterevin by-pass and the Mountmellick Inner Relief Road, or if the projects have been halted due to lack of Government funds.

Early indications suggest that the roads projects are to be almost certainly delayed, and possibly shelved for up to three years on initial completion dates.

The Board of the National Roads Authority is to meet next week to rubberstamp the final grant allocations for road developments throughout the country. The delay in the announcement of grant allocations, which were due early this month, comes with the resignation of Chairperson Liam Connellan and the subsequent appointment of a new Chairperson, according to NRA Communications Officer, Caroline O’Brien.

Recent media reports have speculated on the "drying up" of the roads fund, with one of the more likely potential casualties being the Monasterevin by-pass section of the N7 Heath to Mayfield by-pass.

At a recent meeting of the regional assemblies in Portlaoise, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy launched an attack on the construction industry, saying that inflation in the industry had been "exorbitant" compared with the rate of general inflation. While Minister McCreevy did not confirm or deny that work on the roads would be delayed due to financial shortcomings, he said that the public could not be expected to write a "blank cheque" for the rising costs of road construction. The Construction Industry Federation hit back at Minister McCreevy in an Irish Independent article, citing inaccurate cost estimates, the addition of other projects to the National Development Plan and an increase in land acquisition costs as the major reasons for the price hikes in road construction.

At present, the compulsory purchase orders have been served and tenders for the work on the Monasterevin by-pass have been invited for submission, but so far, no work has been started on the proposed route.

Adrian King of the Kildare County Council National Roads Design Office said yesterday that plans were progressing as expected. "We are in the design and build stage at present with tenders being invited from contractors. We expect to be able to award contracts towards the end of the year." Mr King said that construction work could be expected to begin early in 2003.

He said that he knew nothing about reports of a hold-up in the process due to a lack of funding. "We have not responded to articles published about this. We are progressing as planned. We would be interested as to where that information came from."

However, in a recent private conversation with Laois Chamber of Commerce President, Alan Flynn, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern admitted that the project was on hold, but that the delay was to be only a matter of months. "Now it seems it may be more like years than months," said Mr Flynn.

Chamber CEO Margaret Ryan holds a more optimistic view. "We don’t see that it could possibly be a project that could be shelved. Mr Ahern said that he was confident that it would be completed within four to six months of its projected time."

Ms O’Brien from the NRA was also unwilling to speculate as to whether funds would be available for the project. "The grant allocations for national roads will be announced following the meeting at the end of the month. We are not expecting a decision before the end of the month," she said.

Ms O’Brien also said that the completion date for the Monasterevin by-pass would be in 2007. The original date given for the completion of the project was early 2004.

The status of progress on the Mountmellick Inner Relief road also appears to be up in the air. Fianna Fail TD John Moloney has admitted that he is worried that work on the road will not go ahead as planned due to a lack of commitment in lobbying for the case.

"My information from the NRA is that the Mountmellick project has been put on hold. I am fearful that it will be left on the agenda but will lose its place in the pecking order," said Deputy Moloney.

Easy for Mountmellick as Davis scores two

LFL Counties Cup

Killavilla 1 .....................................................................Mountmellick 5

Mountmellick United strolled into the last eight of the Counties Cup with an easy victory over Killavilla on Sunday. Of course, Killavilla are far from the force they once were after the exodus of so many key players to the Birr Town intermediate team.

The Roscrea side now play in Counties Division two, a league they look certain to win, and they still have the likes of Mark Landy and Michael Maher on board from their former glory days.

They were still no match for Mountmellick who reached the semi-finals of the Counties Cup last season only to lose narrowly to Clara Town.

Mountmellick started the brighter and took the lead when Robbie Hibbitts did great work down the wing and set up Jody Davis for a goal on his first full game after returning from injury.

After 20 minutes more good work by Hibbitts resulted in man of the match Paddy Delaney firing to the net from 20 yards.

Ten minutes before the break it was 3-0 when Dinny Lynch finished a well worked move involving five players.

Mountmellick missed several chances at the beginning of the second half and then lost concentration for a 15-minute period, which allowed Killavilla back into the game.

The visitors managed one goal before Mountmellick composed themselves again and 25 minutes into the half a knock-on from Eoin Smith was netted by Jody Davis who is still only returning to full fitness.

Niall Lynch completed the rout when he found the net following a neat knockdown from Joe Turner.

It was a useful performance from Mountmellick but the lack of concentration in the second half will be worrying and they would have been punished even more by a stronger side.

They meet such a stronger side this Sunday, Arlington as the battle for the Counties Major title moves up another gear.

This is Mountmellick’s fifth chance to win a league which has eluded them in recent seasons and after the crunch match against Arlington, they face more vital encounters against Emo Celtic, Tullamore and Abbeyleix Athletic.

Mountmellick P.O. raided

An armed raid on Mountmellick Post Office on Thursday, February 14 netted €5,500. Two men with Dublin accents who were wearing balaclavas, one with a knife and the other with a gun and a knife, entered the Post Office at 2.20 p.m. There were approximately five customers there at the time but nobody was injured.

The robbers made their getaway in a waiting Toyota Starlet driven by a third person which they abandoned in St. Joseph’s Church car park. They left the area in another car.

This is the third time that the Post Office has been raided in recent years. Gardai are appealing for witnesses, especially anyone who noticed suspicious activity before the robbery and during the exchange of cars.