FARMERS and truck drivers in Corofin and Ruan have highlighted the hazards of overhanging trees.
Their concerns were brought before the West Clare Municipal District by Cllr Joe Killeen (FF). He tabled a motion calling on Clare County Council to cut back overgrown vegetation and trees on the Ruan to Corofin road.
He flagged, “Low hanging telephone cables are in need of re-tensioning at a number of locations along the road on health and safety grounds”.
Landowners’ responsibilities with regard to dangerous structures and trees are outlined in Section 70 of the Roads Act, senior executive engineer Enda MacNamara responded. “Landowners are required to carry out all reasonable steps to ensure that a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation on the land is not a hazard or potential hazard to persons using a public road and that it does not obstruct or interfere with the safe use of a public road or the maintenance of a public road”.
A section of the road is in need of an upgrade to alleviate the worries of tractor and truck drivers, Cllr Killeen felt. “The road is being used to a huge extent by people who don’t want to use Ennis because of the bottlenecks. It is dangerous and needs extra attention”. The proposal was seconded by Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG).
