Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has called on Fianna Fail Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to retract his support for plans to close the Herbert Road Junction which he offered in a letter he distributed to residents in Bray. Brady’s comments came after he was contacted by a number of irate residents in the town with fears that Fianna Fail, despite showing how absolutely out of touch they were with plans for the Junction, were nevertheless going to go ahead close the Herbert Road, as they thought they knew what was best for the residents of Bray who use the Herbert Road junction on a daily basis. There is a fear amongst motorists that the closure of the junction could add considerable delays onto their daily journeys.
Brady said:
“There are huge concerns amongst motorists in Bray surrounding the proposed closure of the Herbert Road. And it has to be said that the reaction that I am seeing and hearing from people here in the town following Fianna Fail Minister for Health Donnelly’s comments illustrate that there is a complete lack of trust amongst those potentially affected by the proposed closure of the Herbert Road and government politicians.
Like many, many others, I am deeply concerned at the potential implications of a forced closure of the Herbert Road Junction, and its impact on local people. The fact is that the Minister is trying to dress up something that is factually incorrect as having a positive impact on the area. His blatant support for the closure is unacceptable, he needs to get out of his bubble, retract his comments, and he needs to listen to the people and withdraw his support.
While the Minister for Health may well have become acclimatised to an environment of chaos during his tenure, particularly in relation to the National Childrens Hospital, to the point that he is comfortable seeing that level of chaos in Bray – he needs to be very aware that the people of Bray will not stand for his incompetence here.
Last year, the road was closed for a number of weeks to facilitate road works, and it resulted in absolute chaos across the whole of Bray, with traffic backed up all over the place.
Local opposition was made abundantly clear to both planners and government politicians during the consultation phase, I know that I myself handed in a petition with close to 2,000 signatories opposing the scheme and was among the over eleven hundred residents of Bray who offered a submission to the consultation outlining the detrimental impact that the closure of the Herbert Road Junction would bring to the town.
It is little wonder that the government parties want the Herbert Road Junction closure buried for the election. Unfortunately for Minister Donnelly, he has let his mask slip on this occasion, but he can be assured that those of us who live in Bray and see our quality of life impacted by the amount of time we are already stuck in traffic cannot and will not let this happen.
The new service that the Fianna Fail Minister is attempting to sell in his letter is on the West side of the N11, on the northbound route, the opposite side of the road to the Herbert Road Junction. For him to even suggest that a parallel road that will only facilitate cars only travelling northbound only shows how lacking his thinking is on the whole issue.
Instead of acting as an apologist for the closure of the Junction, Minister Donnelly needs to use his position in government to oppose this scheme, to listen to the people of Bray, and support efforts to bring an end to these ill-conceived plans to close the Herbert Road Junction.” ENDs