Birr Community Online

On July 18th we reported that Birr Town Council were told, on Monday July 14th, by Town Engineer William Ryan that progress is being made on providing traffic lights at Seffin.

‘We are in the process of employing a contractor from England to design the lights. All that is outstanding on this matter is a contract to erect the lights.” said William Ryan.

In The Midland Tribune of today, October 22nd, it is reported that

“A resolution to the traffic issues in Seffin is still awaited, Birr Town Council heard at its monthly meeting. According to the Town Engineer, Willie Ryan, the plans are not yet complete and no funding as of yet has been made available. In short, he stated he could not not confirm any progress in this matter. The news disappointed Council members who again underpinned their determination to see this matter resolved”.

At the beginning of 2008 The Council assured everyone that this matter would be resolved by the end of 2008, this year has seen a large amount of roadworks on the Roscrea road to benefit the laying of broadband cables, the development of a large Tesco store on the same road - but traffic lights less than 500 metres from the Tesco store - there isn’t even a pedestrian crossing anywhere near the Tesco store - no chance !!

Well, guess they’ll still be looking for your votes for re-election in May 2009 - you’ll have your chance !!

At the July meeting of the Birr Town Councillors the “age-old” problem (it first appeared in Council records as far back as 1969 - 38 years!) of what to do at the Seffin Junction was debated but not resolved.

The NRA are advocating the installation of traffic lights but at least 2 Councillors prefer the option of a roundabout. At this junction there are 3 problems that need to be resolved, the first is pedestrians being able to cross the road safely, secondly cars exiting Hillside to turn onto the main road and thirdly cars wanting to turn right at the junction towards Drumbane.

Only a “mini-roundabout” can be placed at this junction due to the size of the road, a roundabout will do absolutely nothing for pedestrians unless there are pedestrian crossings either side of the junction - these would not necessarily be safe as the junction is on an incline. Secondly, a roundabout would not solve the problem of cars waiting to exit from Hillside as priority on a roundabout is from the right - so they’d still be waiting for a safe break in the traffic from the right as there is today.

Traffic lights would seem to be the logical answer - but not traffic lights that work only on a timer. Sensors in the road on Hillside should only change the lights when needed.

It’s apparent that some Councillors are clearly frustrated by no resolution to this problem and some disagree with the NRA recommendation - but this problem is becoming more apparent as the traffic through Birr increases day by day.

At the June meeting of the Birr Town Council, Councillors failed to make a final decision on which route the Birr Town Bypass should take. It was decided to postpone resolving the issue until a later meeting. Birr Town now has a severe traffic problem and badly needs the Bypass, there is only one road in and out of the town and congestion through the town is at its worst on Fridays. It is not uncommon to take 12+ minutes to travel from the Military Road junction down to the town when traffic is heavy.

Since the date for the construction of the bypass will be in 12 to 15 years time the problem is not going to be resolved in the short term. The Bypass has been under discussion for the last 3 years and Councillors cannot decide on which route is the best, the Eastern Route or the Western Route. The Council Executive is advising that the Eastern Route should be the preferred option but a couple of Councillors prefer the Western Route.

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At a meeting with Birr Town Council on February 19th, FAS Chairman Roddy Molloy confirmed that 40-50 FAS staff will be working in the Birr Technology Centre by the end of the year.

A union action instigated by FAS employees has held up the decentralisation process, a Labour Court hearing on this matter is to be held on April 25th but there is no guarantee the matter will be resolved then.

At their monthly meeting on February 12th, 2007 Birr Town Council agreed to provide 5% of the overall cost of the refurbishment and extension of Birr Swimming Pool. This would amount to €115,000 which would be almost one third of the €350,000 that has to be provided as the local contribution.

Councillor John Carroll who successfully tabled the motion said after the meeting that this contribution together with the €50,000 received from Birr Credit Union, was a huge morale boost to the committee and reduced the amount to be collected to €185,000.

Households in the area have now received a letter requesting donations.

The inaugural meeting of the Birr Joint Policing Commitee took place on February 12th in the Birr Civic Offices. Joint Policing is an initiative to improve communication between the Gardaí and the community.

Chairman of the committee is Councillor John Carroll. The meeting was attended by Superintendent John Dunleavy and Sergeant John Mahon from Birr Garda station, together with several town councillors and a number of local residents.

The next meeting is to be held on April 10th.

Birr Town Council has nine elected members. Members are elected for a five-year period. Elections take place on the same day as local elections. The most recent local elections were held in June 2004.

• Michael Campbell
• Noel Russell
• John Carroll
• Sean Doorley
• Seamus Fanneran
• Anne Hynes-Spain
• Michael Loughnane (Chairman - as of June 2007)
• Tony McLoughlin
• Denis Sheils

On Monday Jan 8th BTC agreed a commercial rate increase of 4.68%. The town council’s budget for 2007 will be €2,909,967 and will cover the following:

• housing & building
• road transportation & safety
• water supply & sewerage
• development incentives & controls
• environmental protection
• recreation & amenity
• agriculture
• education
• health and welfare