Councillors accuse TII of 'moving the goalposts' on Ardee crossing

Ardee councillors have accused Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) of "moving the goalposts" over funding to move a pedestrian crossing in Ardee Town. 

The issue was raised by Independent councillor Jim Tenanty at the February meeting of Ardee Municipal District. 

Mark Johnston, Senior Engineer with Louth County Council said the local authority had been trying to move the pedestrian crossing for "quite some time", but said it requires €90,000 in funding from the TII. 

Mr Johnston confirmed that Louth County Council has only received half of the funding. 

"We have to do all their various programmes, designs and  specifications. Once we do all that we hopefully get the €90,000 to do it in 2026."

Cllr Dolores Minogue, Cathaoirleach of Ardee Municipal District questioned if the whole process had to start fresh in order to secure funding. 

"Do we have to do a whole new plan or do we just need funding, we already got funding, there’s a plan in place," she said.

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Cllr Tenanty said "this is kicking the can down the road again. We were told we were only €5,000 short, and now we’ve only half the money. Why has all this changed now? It like starting all over again," he said. 

"This is ongoing for the last five years. If there's a fatality on it, who are we going to blame? We'll get the blame...It's dangerous," he said.

While Mr Johnston agreed that the crossing needed to be moved, he said "it's not a mile away" from meeting the correct specifications. 

"The recommended distance from the junction is five metres, its about four metres. It's not a mile away from being perfectly within spec, but at least there is a crossing. To make it right we have to do the report," he said.

Cllr Minogue accused the TII of "shifting the goalposts" every time Louth County Council seek additional funding. 

"We’ve done all the reports. They’re shifting the goalposts everytime we go for funding."

"To say its a safe junction, it's definitely not, and that's why it's being moved. Its frustrating for us, and I'm sure its frustrating for you as officials. We’re hearing it day in day out, but because we need more funding or extra funding, the TII want more reports.

What more reports can they actually need? Nothing new has come out in the last five years. It’ll be 2027 and we’ll be having the same conversation," she said.

Sinn Féin councillor Pearse McGeough supported his fellow councillors and said "It's frustrating us as councillors having to wait and listen to this, we need it to happen."

Mr Johnston concluded that he believes it will happen in 2026.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.