Senior Executive Engineer with the Edenderry Municipal District of Offaly County Council, John Connelly has said the council are “fully engaged” with Scoil Bhride and Killane Drive residents in Edenderry to “find workable solutions” to the traffic issues that have arisen since the school’s opening earlier this week.
In correspondence with InOffaly on Thursday evening, Mr Connelly said that the council “have been engaging with the residents of Killane Drive, the school, the Gardaí and the parents” over the past few days. “We are aware of some of the traffic issues which have arisen following the opening of the new Scoil Bhride, but we are fully engaged in assisting the school in trying to find solutions to the issues involved,” he added.
Mr Connelly explained that traffic management and regulation in this case “is not the sole preserve of Offaly County Council. “There are responsibilities attaching to the school, the residents, the parents, the road users, and so on,” he remarked.
Residents of Killane Drive in Edenderry have protested by forming a blockade at the entrance to the housing estate, barring access to parents who had begun using the area to drop off and pick up children in their cars at the recently opened Scoil Bhride primary school. A walkway connecting the school to Killane Drive, which was in the plans for the school site back in 2011, was opened for use earlier this week, resulting in excess traffic converging at that point of access. An Offaly Independent article dated August 25, 2011, read: “The site is to be landscaped, with the hedgerow along the boundary with Killane Heights retained and reinforced if needed. Provision for cycle and pedestrian access is to be made through to Killane Drive.”
Residents and parents of young children from Killane Drive and surrounding areas took to social media in recent days to vent their frustrations and objections to the inadvertent influx of traffic that has descended on their previously quiet housing estate. They have expressed concern at the lack of calming measures in place to manage the traffic, and are worried about the safety of children in Killane Drive as a result. One resident wrote: “With over 100 children walking through our estate to access their schools, parents driving through are increasing the risk to these children, and there has already been a report of one near miss with a car and a child.”
A local member of An Garda Siochana attended the scene of the protest at the entrance to Killane Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday, where residents blocked access, stating that they did not want traffic flowing through their estate. On Wednesday, the protesters held a banner which read: “Stop! Walking Only.”
Commenting on the ongoing saga on Facebook, Cllr Noel Cribbin of Offaly County Council wrote: “This is a housing estate with young families and was not built for this traffic; nobody wants to see any child knocked down or hurt.” Cllr Cribbin said he had been in contact with the local engineer to enquire about the plan for resolution. He also reiterated his assertion that Scoil Bhride is “a fabulous new facility” and asked for people to “work together until the teething problems are sorted.”
The council remains in contact with all parties involved, and is committed to reconciling the issue as soon as possible.
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