Council discussing steel barriers for pedestrian safety at canal bridges

Westmeath County Council staff are in discussions with Waterways Ireland about the prospect of upgrading barriers on the Royal Canal in Mullingar with more permanent structures.

The issue was broached at the January meeting of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District when Cllr Andrew Duncan asked if the local authority could replace the recently erected timber barriers at the Green Bridge with a steel structure.

Cllr Duncan was following up on his motion tabled last June at a meeting of the authority, where he called on the council to make the path “safe for cyclists and pedestrians underneath the Green Bridge”. At that time, the suggestion that a barrier be erected along the path under the Green Bridge received strong cross-party backing. Last November new timber barriers were erected there.

In a reply to Cllr Duncan, district engineer, Pat Kavanagh, said the authority were in discussions with Waterways Ireland in relation to the matter to install more secure barriers at the Green Bridge and the Harbour Bridge.