THE death of a young
Carn woman in a Culdaff crash has prompted an
investigation by the European Parliament.
The EU Parliament's Petitions Committee is to
investigate how Irish local authorities maintain and
upkeep their non-national roads.
It stems from a petition submitted by Carndonagh man
Sean Farren whose daughter Sinead died after her
vehicle went out of control in Culdaff in June 2001.
The section of road was undergoing works that were
unfinished when the accident occurred. Speaking from
Brussels, Mr Farren said he hoped there would be a
positive outcome to the EU investigation
"We have been campaigning for a long time now. We
want things to change and we don't want other
families to go through the pain and suffering that
we and others like us have done," he said.
"We have gone the national route and received no
support from the Government whose attitude has been
to deny responsibility yet fail to hold local
authorities to account."
Mr Farren said his family was forced to go to the EU
to seek accountability and "force a change in
procedures in Ireland".
"Already we have received support from the European
Commission, the chair of the Petitions Committee and
a number of MEPs," he added.
North and West MEP Jim Higgins MEP has been helping
the Farren family and others with efforts to ensure
road surfaces on non-national roads do not represent
dangers to road users.
Mr Higgins said: "The Road Safety Authority has been
very successful in changing the attitudes of Irish
drivers and EU legislation has ensured much safer
vehicles for us to drive. Despite these changes our
road infrastructure has not been made safer, except
with the development of motorways but these
represent only a tiny fraction of our road system."
Mr Higgins urged the Government to implement a
national audit of all non-national roads as a matter
of urgency.
"I have serious concerns about the ability of local
authorities to maintain roads and there needs to be
independent audits and assessment of the methods
they use to determine whether they can actual
deliver a safe road infrastructure," added Mr
Higgins. |
