A Castleblayney councillor says not enough is being done to slow traffic in and around the town, and has called for speed surveys on four routes before someone is killed. Sinn Féin's Paul Gibbons told Northern Sound on Monday, 12 October, that there have been a number of road traffic collisions in the locality in recent years and that residents regularly complain to him about motorists driving too fast.
Cllr Gibbons wants speed surveys carried out on the Shercock Road, the Dundalk Road, the Keady Road and through Oram village. He is also calling for speed cushions, pedestrian crossings and driver feedback signs to be put in across the area. He blames a shortage of funding for road safety projects in the Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District for the lack of action so far.
Three bids out of fourteen
The funding problem is set out in black and white in the minutes of the district's July meeting, held in Carrickmacross on 20 July and published by Monaghan County Council this month. Answering a question from Cllr Gibbons, the council executive listed every traffic calming and speed reduction scheme it had sought money for since 2024. There were 14 in all.
Only three were funded, all through the Department of Transport's Safety Improvement Works on Regional and Local Roads programme: a controlled pedestrian crossing on the Oriel Road in Carrickmacross and new signs and high-friction surfacing at Laragh, both in 2025, and an improved junction layout with a pedestrian crossing at Kilmactrasna/Mullinarry on the Kingscourt Road in 2026.
The Castleblayney-area bids that missed out included traffic calming on Muckno Street, which was put forward in both 2024 and 2025, speed cushions for the Thorndale estate and for Conabury Hill, and a controlled pedestrian crossing in Oram village. Several of these were small sums; the Conabury Hill cushions were costed at €8,000 and the Thorndale ones at €10,000. Later in the same meeting Cllr Gibbons noted for the record that just three of the 14 applications had been granted.
The executive explained that, under the council's Non-National Urban Public Roads Traffic Calming Policy 2024, larger measures are generally built into Active Travel schemes funded by the National Transport Authority, while standalone schemes depend on the Department of Transport programme.
Concerns raised before
This is not the first time the issue has come up. In April, Cllr Gibbons, then Cathaoirleach of the municipal district, told a meeting that a speed survey had picked out the Thorndale and Rosevale estates in Castleblayney, where traffic is heavy and many young children live. The executive replied that both estates had been included in a funding application but that neither scheme was successful.
A week later he sought a road safety assessment of the Churchill Road at Tullyharnett, near Oram, which he said is busy with walkers, runners and growing traffic from Frankfort Bridge to the border. He was told the executive would look at whether an assessment, including speed and traffic surveys, could be carried out.
Fine Gael councillor Aidan Campbell also raised Castleblayney road safety at the July meeting, asking for an update on speeding by cars leaving the town for Dundalk and suggesting the council work with the Gardaí on it.
Residents who want to report a specific speeding or road safety concern can contact the Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District office or their local councillor.
