A5 funding from Irish Government welcomed as ‘watershed moment’

By Rebecca Black (PA)

A major funding announcement by the Dublin Government for the proposed upgrading of the A5 road to Londonderry has been welcomed by campaigners as a “watershed moment”.

The road has been the subject of calls for improvement due to the high volume of fatal collisions on the route, which links the city of Derry with Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone, located close to the Irish border.

A scheme to turn the A5 into a dual carriageway was first approved in 2007 but has been held up by legal proceedings and faced funding uncertainty.

Since 2007, almost 50 people have died on the single-lane road, including three members of the same family in one collision.

The Irish Government previously committed £400 million (467.9 million euro) to the A5 project in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement. However, it cut that to £75 million (87.7 million euro) during the financial crash.

On Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced 600 million euro (£512.8 million) towards the proposed upgrade of the A5.

Niall McKenna, chair of the A5 Enough Is Enough campaign group, said they were very happy with the recommitment by the Irish Government to the funding.

His group met with the Irish Government last summer, and said they felt confident after that meeting that a substantial figure would be announced.

“Unfortunately the process began in April 2007 when the scheme was initially approved. It has been beset with legal problems for nearly 17 years, and unfortunately in those 17 years 48 people have lost their lives on this road,” he said.

“But we think things are certainly moving in the right direction at the moment, and we’d be hopeful that full approval for the scheme will be in the next couple of months.”

Another member of the campaign group, Brendan Hurl, said the A5 has previously been described as “one of the most dangerous in Europe”.

“It emerged in the public inquiry that an accident has been reported to police (on the A5) once every three days,” he said.

“Too many lives have been lost on this road, too many families have been victims, and the important thing is to say about this road is the A5 is totally indiscriminate, it doesn’t matter who you are, what you are, where you’re from, what you work at, what background you come from, it will kill you regardless.”

SDLP West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan welcomed the funding as a “watershed moment”, and called for Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd to announce the next steps.

“Now that this funding has been secured we need to see the Executive and Minister O’Dowd follow suit with approval for this long-awaited project so that we can get work started before the end of the year,” he said.

“I would like to pay tribute to the campaigners, many of them who have lost loved ones on this road, who have worked so hard in recent years, battering down the doors of governments right across this island to make the case for the A5.

“They know more than anyone the need for this redevelopment, but channelled their own grief into positive action so that nobody else would suffer the loss that they have felt.

“We have been a long time getting to this stage and what we need now from the minister is urgent clarity on the next steps.

“I believe today is a watershed moment in seeing the A5 delivered and look forward to seeing this project completed at last.”