Bypass Ireland: Safety fears as national routes continue to thunder through Castlemartyr

The congested East Cork village is hoping for a bypass, but locals fear someone will be killed there before it is built due to the volume of traffic, writes Neil Michael

Castlemartyr is plagued by traffic to and from Waterford or Rosslare to Cork City and beyond. And it benefits neither locals nor drivers, most of whom would surely prefer to bypass the village. Picture: Neil Michael

There are three things people like to talk about in Castlemartyr — lollipop ladies, traffic, and “flying” cars.

Cork County Council can’t get a lollipop lady to help the village’s national school children cross the road. The reason for this, according to the locals, is that the job has proved to be too dangerous because of the huge traffic volumes passing through the town on a daily basis.

Locals say there have been a number of “near misses” in recent years at the junction of Main St and Mogeely Rd.

Some residents also say there has, on occasion, been vitriolic verbal abuse from drivers, frustrated at being held up in traffic for so long.

Paul and Catherine Power live on one of the four corners surrounding the bridge over the Kiltha River at that junction.

Catherine’s mild manner betrays an obvious frustration at what is going on in Castlemartyr.

It is so serious at that junction that we do not believe it is a matter of if someone is going to get killed or injured, it is just a matter of when.

“The traffic is getting busier and busier and the risks are increasing.

“Just the other day, a driver behind another who had stopped at the lights suddenly pulled out and sped across the junction. I was about to cross and had I done, I would have been hit.

Catherine points to the fact that the national school is located at the junction.

Traffic hurtling past the Hunted Hog pub on Main St, Castlemartyr. Speed is a big issue, says Orla McGovern, who sees some cars going so fast over the hump-back bridge across the Kiltha that they literally leave the road. Picture: Neil Michael

“Despite this, we don’t have a lollipop lady at the moment because the last one was injured and the two that came after that apparently left for health and safety reasons.

“They just couldn’t continue. They couldn’t do it because it was just too unsafe. And they kept on getting abuse from drivers.

“Children actually have to come here to the junction where a teacher will wait with them and cross them.”

The fact that a village school can’t get a lollipop lady speaks volumes about Castlemartyr’s traffic.

Pharmacist Yvonne Thompson is concerned for children navigating the crossing amid heavy traffic: ‘It just takes one little slip, and someone’s going to get badly injured.’ Picture: Neil Michael

The ever-present piercing pungent stench of diesel fumes, the constant drone of big truck and lorry engines cut an unrelentingly unpleasant swathe through the heart of the village.

Simple things we take for granted — like crossing the road — can very quickly become feats of immense derring-do.

Another bypass supporter is village pharmacist Yvonne Thompson, of Castle Pharmacy on Main St.

She is aware the village doesn’t have a lollipop lady and shakes her head about what is happening at the moment.

“I do know they basically haven’t filled the post and the children now have no lollipop lady,” she said.

“So they’re being told to go down to the traffic lights but it’s a major junction and at three o’clock you could have 50 to 60 children on the side of the sidewalk.

“It just takes one little slip, and someone’s going to get badly injured.” 

Centra assistant manager Imogen O’Callaghan points out that traffic from Waterford and Rosslare on one side and Cork City on the other is funneled through the village. Picture: Neil Michael

She also says the pharmacy’s older customers are often put off coming into the village because of the volume and speed of the traffic.

So the pharmacy operates a free delivery service for them.

However, even that suffers as it struggles to get in and out of the village.

Centra Castlemartyr assistant manager Imogen O’Callaghan is among the many people in the village who see the benefits of a bypass.

“The main road to Youghal and beyond to places like Waterford and Rosslare goes through this village in one direction, as does the main road to Cork City and West Cork,” she said.

“Added to that, we have plenty of tourists staying in the local hotels who want to go sightseeing in either direction.

“We have just so many people using this one road, and I believe a bypass will help with the flow of traffic.

“The residents have been waiting for this for more than 30 years.

“But the village is now so busy with traffic that most of the people who live in it or around it don’t bother using their car, they just walk.”

She is also one of a number of residents to mention the impact of the Dunkettle Interchange on traffic.

While the interchange just under 25km away is getting a much-needed upgrade, and traffic is flowing better on and off the N25, its success is causing problems for the villagers.

Fianna Fáil Cork East TD James O'Connor says he doesn't think rural Ireland should be a 'sacrificial calf' for road projects in urban areas. File picture: John Hennessy

Traffic is now getting out of Cork faster but the tailbacks at Castlemartyr are getting longer and drivers are getting more and more frustrated with the seemingly endless delays.

Local Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor made national headlines when he threatened to resign from the parliamentary party when it looked like the promised bypass was not going to happen.

In October 2021, the then 24-year-old TD tweeted that he had been “misled” to believe the Castlemartyr and Killeagh bypass projects would be included in the National Development Plan.

On being told they were not included, he demanded a meeting with then Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Mr Martin, who had helped Mr O’Connor canvass the Cork East constituency during his first successful general election bid in 2020, was questioned about the issue while he was abroad attending an EU summit at the time.

It subsequently emerged that there is a clause in the National Development Plan to allow for roads and bypasses to be added even if they are not in the €265bn plan.

Fast forward to today. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) road allocations are due to be published any day now.

All the indications are that three options will be looked at — a minor relief road scheme, a bypass, or a motorway.

If, as appears most likely, Castlemartyr gets a bypass, it could cost up to €100m and be open by around 2029, bar any objections or other problems.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said recently he will aim this year to prioritise bypasses of market towns “to bring them back to life, make them people friendly, and take out choking congestion”.

So residents have their fingers crossed. For his part, Mr O’Connor has no regrets about publicly challenging his party leader in 2021.

“Well, effectively there was a meeting held, there was an outcome of the meeting and we all moved on,” he said.

“I don’t regret it in any way but it just had to happen because there was a clash, a very, very big clash of priorities.”

He says he gets the fact that road projects in urban areas such as Dublin need to be funded but adds: “I don’t think rural Ireland should be the sacrificial calf for that type of funding. 

We do need to decongest a number of villages that are in the periphery of cities in Ireland.

“Castlemartyr and Killeagh are the last two villages on the N25 route. There’s more traffic in Castlemartyr and Killeagh than there is on the Galway to Limerick road or on the Waterford to Dublin motorway.

“So that just gives you an indication that it’s not some kind of a parish pump project.”

Orla McGovern, who was brought up on Castlemartyr’s main street, sighs wearily when asked about the need for a bypass.

“I’ve always been used to traffic,” she said. “But the volume of traffic that’s going into Castlemartyr at the moment is just gone beyond I don’t know what.

'[W]e have what is, in effect, a motorway going through the village,' says Castlemartyr native Orla McGovern. Picture: Neil Michael

“We have a lovely village where you can get your coffees, you can have your meals, you can get your hair done, you can get this and that. But we have what is, in effect, a motorway going through the village.

“There is just such a huge volume of traffic coming through the village and we just can’t cope with the volume anymore.”

Orla, who owns and runs the Castlemartyr House Gallery, added: “It’s not just the volume of traffic, it is also the speed of the cars.

“Cars come round the bend from the Midleton end and next thing, they fly down the village, and over the humped bridge at that junction near the school.

“We have seen cars lift and fly over the bridge with speed.

“They actually lift off the bridge, and fly through the air momentarily because they are going so fast over the bridge.

“To say we badly need a bypass would be an understatement. Even if we know we are getting it and have to wait, we don’t mind — just
as long as we know it’s coming.”