Sinnott brands road closure ‘highway robbery’
“On September 2, the barricades will be placed on the N8 Cork to Fermoy Road at Rathcormac and the toll booths for the Fermoy bypass road will be opened and operational. From this moment members of the public will be forced to pay to drive on their own road.
“This stretch of road will be inaccessible to my constituents unless they pay a toll to a private company. The situation could be avoided at no cost if the present road to Rathcormac village is left open instead of being closed off when the toll bridge opens,” she said.
In the case of the Cork/Fermoy bypass, the toll can go ahead withoutclosure of the 2.4km of public road by simply not blockading a small stretch of road to Rathcormac village.
She is insisting that the N8 be left open “and our rights as Irish and European citizens to free access to public roads be respected by both Government and private companies.”
A 2.4km section of the N8 between Cork and Fermoy, was funded by the EU, she argues.
“The Public Private Partnership have already claimed ownership to 2.4 kilometres of EU funded public road, in road signage erected recently,” Ms Sinnott said.
“The confiscation of our public road will be complete on the day that the new toll gates are open and the route to Rathcormac closed off,” she added.
Because it was funded by the EU the public should enjoy full public use of the 2.4km of the N8, Ms Sinnott said.
She has informed the European Commission of the N8 access situation.
“They have verbally confirmed that public roads are public and must remain so. A more formal confirmation of this and a response from the Commission on the particular situation arising in Cork is being sought,” she said.
The Fermoy bypass scheme comprises 17.5km of motorway together with associated interchanges and local road realignments and includes a 450m long viaduct spanning the Blackwater Valley. The PPP scheme will be tolled.
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