Mirrors knocked off car five times

One motorist in Delvin has lost five wing mirrors from her car in a town which often sees “multiple” traffic collisions per week, a local councillor has stated.

Cllr David Jones made the claim at the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad as he called on the district to set aside funding to purchase or rent land for a car park in Delvin.

In a written response to Cllr Jones’s motion, district officials stated that a potential car park has been identified within the town, although it is in private ownership.

“The district engineer will engage with the owner and also identify a possible funding source,” the reply concluded.

Cllr Jones said 44,000 vehicles pass through every week as the town is on the route of two national roads; many elderly people in the village collect their pensions on Fridays, and in that same area, there are six businesses operating.

“All we ask for is a car park similar to Kinnegad,” he said, going on to add that he welcomed the work done to date in terms of identifying a site and liaising with the landowner.

He added that he believes the site under consideration to be the most suitable site available locally.

Cllr Niall Gaffney supported the motion, confirming that as Cllr Jones had explained, collisions there were not rare.

“I think the issue with car park goes hand in hand with traffic calming. People are just driving through too fast through the village and we’re caught with bottlenecks due to the lack of parking,” he stated.

Support came too from Cllr Denis Leonard who said that for Kinnegad, provision of a car park had been a game-changer. He said the only way businesses can survive is if there is parking available for customers.

Also in support of the motion was Cllr Alfie Devine.

Director of services Deirdre Reilly said the council officials support the residents of Delvin in their pursuit of the car park and the next issue to be considered was that of funding.

“I guess it’s a project for 2025 and so we’ll have to look at that in the context of the budget which will be coming up towards the end of the year,” Ms Reilly told the councillors.