State urged to fund measures to tackle Relief Road noise

The Noise Mitigation Plan for the Athlone Relief Road relies on State funding, a recent meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District has heard.

Cllr Aengus O’Rourke tabled a motion seeking a meeting with Minister of State at the Department of Transport Sean Canney "to once again seek his support for a funding allocation to deal with the Noise Mitigation Plan for Athlone Relief Road”.

He noted that he recently met with Minister Canney at a tourism launch event in Mullingar, and was "disappointed" to hear that no progress has been made.

"I put him on the spot and I said, 'Sean, have we made any progress in relation to this?' And he said 'no, not really, it's still a consideration.' I think we need to meet him face to face again and find out once and for all, is there a government approach that can be taken to this, and will he be willing to lead that approach? Because it's just not good enough."

In 2023, a consultants' report commissioned by Westmeath County Council found that people living in estates near the dual carriageway were being subjected to excessive and intrusive noise pollution from passing traffic.

A detailed survey carried out by the consultants in January 2023 confirmed that traffic noise at seven separate locations along the route exceeded recommended guidelines during the day and also at night.

In fact, the noise levels at Cloghanboy Close were found to be “significantly higher” than the permitted guidelines.

However, Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, who has previously estimated that the cost of the work would be in the region of €10m, said the report had been "sitting on a shelf" since then because of Government inaction.

Cllr O'Rourke added he was "frustrated" that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has said funding for the project is "the role of the local authority".

"We don't have the funding capacity, it has to come from the state," he said. "I just want to make sure that the residents are aware that we can't as a local authority deliver this scheme, we don't have the funding.

"We are relying on the State to support us, we are relying on the Minister to deliver for us on this."

"We are being passed from pillar to post," said Cllr Paul Hogan, adding that the project "entirely dependent on State funding".

"They say they don't fund legacy issues, but they have in other parts of the State."

Cllr Frankie Keena said people "want relief from their suffering" as the issue continues to "drag on".

There was unanimous support from council members on the motion, as they agreed to send a letter to seek a meeting with the Minister.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme