Report on Stop this road rally at Octagon

mayo | environment | news report Thursday June 08, 2006 00:12 by Keith Martin- Councillor

Large crowd turns out at Westport Protest Rally to stop Westport Town Council's road and bridge plan from destroying Railway Line Walk.

Harry Barrett Labour's Mayo Dail Candidate addresses the crowd

A large crowd turned up in Westport for the recent “Stop this Road” rally which was held at the Octagon at 3pm and was organised by the campaign to stop the new road and bridge in Cloonmonad, which the protesters say will destroy the integrity of the Railway Line Walk as well as the habitiate of wild birds, flowers and animals.

The organisers erected a Marquee with a table underneath were people could queue up to sign the petition. Flying from the corners of the tent were helium balloons which bore the words “Stop This Road” in capital letters. Playing in the background was Johnny Cash singing “I walked the line” which is campaign’s anthem. Members also distributed “I walked the Line” stickers to the crowd and despite odd showers of rain a large crowd turned up to hear the speakers and sign the petition.

The crowd was addressed by Mary Muldoon, Chairperson of the Westport Civic Trust who welcomed the crowd in Irish from the steps on the Octagon’s plinth. Ms Muldoon urged the people of Westport to talk action to prevent the loss of the amienty and integrity of the Railway Line Walk. Ms Muldoon highlighted the Trust's concerns over the project and warned that the Trust would stop at nothing to prevent the road.

Ms Muldoon told the rally “It is vital that you write to or telephone your councillors and the Town Manager or the Town Clerk. On our own we can achieve very little. But with your strong support, we can, together, convince our elected representatives to have another look at this problem. In particular, they should be encouraged to call upon the expert professional advice available to them as members of a local authority to devise alternative imaginative accesses to the development lands, backed up by up-to-date professional objective traffic surveys of all pertinent roads.

“In this context, we reiterate our support for the sensitive and people-friendly development of the Cloonmonad lands as soon as may be feasible. And we believe that an acceptable compromise solution which will satisfy both the Council, the developer and the Civic Trust can be reached if we are all prepared to engage in open and frank discussion of the various issues.”

Also speaking at the rally was Cllr Keith Martin who told the crowd “150 submissions were ignored in 2001. Your voice was ignored. Don’t let them ignore you today, take up your pens and your phones and call them and tell them you don’t want this road. Tell them “Stop this road!”

Independent Cllr Martin Keane spoke about his decision in 2001 to vote against the road and bridge, saying “I was alone and I was castigated for my decision by the other councillors, but Martin Keane is still opposed to this bridge and road and I’ll be backing you all the way on this.”

Labour’s Dail Candidate Harry Barrett said he supported the rally and the campaign totally saying it was a disgrace that the people’s voice was not heard in 2001 when the wanted this project stopped. “You have my full support for your campaign” he concluded.

Cllr Keith Martin, Cllr Martin Keane, Harry Barrett at the Rally