FG cllr's attack on Sinn Fein over Navan junction safety

Fine Gael councillor Jim Holloway has launched a blistering attack on Sinn Fein and what he claims is the party's hypocrisy on the issue of pedestrian safety on the Trim Road in Navan. The issue of a lack of footpath and pedestrian crossing on the Trim Road for those shopping in the area was raised at last week's meeting of Navan Town Council when three separate motions were dealt with relating to pedestrian safety and traffic issues at the busy Beechmount junction. Cllr Holloway has said he raised the issue of the need for a Trim Road crossing on behalf of the visually impaired in January 2009, but that planning permission went through for Lidl with no provision made for a blind person to cross the Trim Road in safety to get to the store. He said residents who live within a maximum of five minutes' walk of the new retail discount store on Trim Road are forced to cross the busy Trim Road to get to this store, without a dedicated pedestrian crossing and that those who live or are engaged in employment on the same side of the road as the Lidl store not provided with a footpath. "We are talking here of over 3,000 residents who are without the footpath and/or pedestrian crossing to get to the new store. It was this very issue that I raised when I made a submission on planning in relation to the developments on the Trim Road. Like everyone in Navan, I looked forward to the new outlet and had advocated for years for this. In contrast, when I made my submission to the planning process over recent years, Sinn Fein, in the persons of Joe Reilly, current mayor, and Peadar Tóibín sought to confuse the issue for political gain by subscribing to a submission to the planning process which merely said that they supported the building on the discount store. "Sure, we all did. But any serious submission would have addressed the very issue that I sought to have addressed at planning stage, and that is safe access for pedestrians. But this is not what Sinn Fein were about," he said. "So, on Tuesday evening, it was nauseating he have to listen to the two Sinn Fein representatives, the Mayor of Navan Joe Reilly, and Peadar Tóibin, expressing concern at the absence of footpath and pedestrian crossings on Trim Road. Their concern is empty. Their stance is hypocritical. Their business is spin," added Cllr Holloway. Cllr Tóibín responded to Cllr Holloways's attack on the party regarding the Trim Road traffic issues, saying: "Unfortunately, Cllr Holloway seems to be getting carried away with an emotional attack on our party and is not paying attention to the facts. He states that Sinn Féin made a submission with regards the new Lidl on the Trim road. This is not true. He claims that we have not previously raised the issue of pedestrian and cycle traffic in the town. His memory does not serve him correctly." Cllr Tóibín said that Meath Sinn Féin made a detailed proposal to the Navan Development Plan last year that all future roadworks carried out in the town would retrofit paths and cycle tracks as standard throughout the town and that he also passed a motion seeking effect to this point in early 2009. "It was our grouping at council level that made funds available for Navan's Smarter Travel bid in this year's budget - funding that Cllr Holloway voted against. It's unfortunate but, since the 2009 local election when Cllr Holloway failed to secure power on the council, his attacks are getting bitterer by the day. I hope that he can soon leave this behind. Now, more than ever, Navan needs constructive politics and positive community activism," added Cllr Tóibín.