Manus Boyle (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is an urgent need for the Minister for Transport, Deputy O’Brien, to prioritise the village of Fahan in County Donegal on the application of roads funding. Over the years, there has been a disproportionate number of accidents in the vicinity of the village because of the way the village is laid out. Cars and heavy vehicles tend to go through the village. More could be done by the authorities to improve the village in order that drivers realise much quicker that they are entering a village. The issue of road safety is compounded by the sheer volume of traffic through Derry and the other side of the Inishowen Peninsula. There has been a large number of traffic accidents in the vicinity of Fahan, although thankfully none of them have been fatal.

To highlight the pressing need for immediate action to address the speeding on the overall road safety through the village, there are added concerns for pedestrians walking and crossing the road. It can take a long time to cross the road and they are taking their lives in their own hands attempting to cross between traffic. Noise is another issue in this beautiful seaside town where the houses are built on the hill overlooking the beautiful Lough Swilly. The volume of traffic and weight of heavy vehicles in the village is very noisy.

Donegal County Council recently was allocated €42.4 million in funding for the roads. The Minister for Transport, Deputy O’Brien, needs to prioritise the village of Fahan to support and implement the plan for the village. While there could be too many such deserving projects in the county, Fahan has fallen between the cracks in the political realities of not having its own councillor in its area. I am calling on the Minister to urgently address this issue to inform local residents, and indeed a former Member of this House, Catherine Noone, that this project is well overdue in Fahan. I am calling on the Minister to put a strategic plan together for Fahan and to try to work with the local community to see whether we can get something sorted.