€1.3m for Wexford walking and cycling

By Dan Walsh

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Eamon Ryan TD, believes that the way forward post Covid-19 is through walking and cycling and is stimulating the measures through the Active Travel Measures Allocations 2020 with the announcement of funding to Wexford County Council of €1,351, 098.

Minister Ryan said; “The Active Travel grant scheme is a positive initiative which will see communities across the country benefiting from improved and more accessible walking and cycling infrastructure as well as stimulating local employment. The projects included in the scheme can make a real difference to people – footpaths and cycle ways that allow children to walk/cycle to school and to local sport clubs; the dishing of footpaths and pedestrian crossings that improve access to local amenities and links to public transport, and improvements to town and village centres that will support our hard hit retail and hospitality sectors.

CAMOLIN village. On the new proposed ‘greyway’ between Clough Roundabout and the Scurloughsbush Roundabout along the old N11

€258,714 has been allocated for the conversion of the hard shoulder to cycle tracks (called greyways) from Clough Roundabout, north of Camolin, to Scurloughsbush (old N11), south of Enniscorthy where the M11 ends – a total distance of approximately 30kms. A similar arrangement is planned between Ballymacar Roundabout to Oaklands Roundabout (old N25 at New Ross) will cost €41,284; and €24,000 each is provided for cycle parking shelters for the towns of Wexford, New Ross, Enniscorthy and Gorey, and for the villages of Bunclody, Oylegate, Ferns and Camolin. €10,000 will be made available for the completion of a footpath and a cycle land link between Wexford and Castlebridge.

€15,375 will support the provision of bike racks (for 4 to 8 bikes) at 15 beaches throughout the county – Curracloe, The Raven, Ballinesker, Morriscastle, Cahore, Courtown, Ballymoney, Castletown, Rosslare Strand, St, Helen’s, Carne, Kilmore Quay, Fethard, Duncannon, and Ballyhack/Arthurstown.

There is a further €9,225 for similar bike racks at nine ‘communal locations’ throughout the county – Peoples Park in Gorey; Sports Hub and Vinegar Hill Car Park in Enniscorthy; Sports Park and Library Park in New Ross; Min Ryan Park, Ferrycarrig Car Park and Ferrybank Car Park in Wexford, and the Swimming Pool Car Park in Bunclody.

In Enniscorthy, at the Duffry Gate area linking residential houses to services such as the Post Office, shops and a pharmacy, €30,000 is allocated for the provision of disable and age friendly parking and the upgrading of the existing pedestrian crossing point and other works.

Further work is earmarked for the Templeshannon area of the town. €60,000 is to be made available for new surfacing and line marking and the installation of cycle parking, disabled and age friendly parking facilities to support the use of the public rail transport system at Railway Square.

€3,000 is allocated by bicycle racks to be installed at the Nine Stones Cycle rest stop (which I always thought was near Bunclody) but the official report refers to the Paul Funge Boulevard, Gorey? €4,500 also for bicycle racks at Gorey Town Park, which is a construction site at present!

Biggest project in the Gorey district is €60,000 for the continuation of the new footpath from the town to Courtown; Ballygarrett is set to get €75,000 for a new footpath from the village to the GAA pitch.

€86,000 is earmarked for the project at Carrigfoyle Rock in the direction of the road junction at Shelmalier Commons and Fort Mountain, in the Barntown area, near Wexford town. The provision of new footpaths will take walkers off the busy roads leading to the forestry trails, used as walking trail routes. Works will include the installation of roadside drainage, kerbing, relocating telegraph poles, realignment of an old stone boundary wall and path surface finish and line marking.

€460,000 for Wexford ‘shovel ready’ projects

By Dan Walsh

Wexford County Council has been allocated funding of €460,000 under the Climate Change Adaption Allocations 2020 by the Department of Transport, Tourism, and Sport, which will assist in repairs and safety measures carried out in sixteen projects damaged by severe weather events.

Cliffs are being eroded on the cul-de-sac leading to Hook Lighthouse, but some funding has been allocated for repairs.

Minister of State, Hildegarde Naughton TD, said: “The recent severe weather has again highlighted the challenges presented by climate change on our road infrastructure. The Climate Change Adaptation grants now being provided will help local authorities to deal with the essential repairs needed in the aftermath of the severe weather. Families and businesses in our villages, towns and cities right across the country will benefit from these important ‘shovel ready’ projects as soon as November this year.

One of Wexford’s major tourist attractions at Hook Head is reached by a cul-de-sac which travels above the cliffs and terminates at the landmark lighthouse. “The cliffs are being eroded during severe weather events and are reducing the structural integrity of the road,” says the report, which adds; “Safety rocks are placed in numerous locations along the road to prevent vehicles from accessing these areas. These rocks have subsided so that they are now barely visible.

Funding is also available for Grange Beach where the cliffs have experienced landslides that has undermined the road and caused safety barriers to collapse.

€100,000 has been allocated to Ferrycarrig for phase one consisting of 350 metres where it is planned to raise the road level by 180mm to mitigate flooding and reduce road closure frequency close to the Irish National Heritage Park.

Works are due to take place at Goff’s Bridge, near Taghmon, to take account of increased hydraulic loads causing scour damage and undermining the bridge structure and further works are required to clean out the river bed and increase the opening of the bridge to prevent the road flooding.

€10,000 has been allocated to remove an existing defective culvert under the road and replace it with one metre diameter pipeline to alleviate flooding. This appears to be the road leading from the N11 towards Bree at Edermine, which is regularly flooded, sometimes due to high tide!

Works are also to receive funding at Lacken Hill, Gap Cross, Monart EastKellistown Cross, Moddybeg and Coolraheen, near Taghmon, Aidan’s Cross, Ballyroebuck and in the villages of Ballygarrett, Ballyedmond, and Ballybro, Rosslare.

€25m funding for 3rd level institutions

Wexford TD James Browne has welcomed a €25 million investment for capital works in 3rd level institutions including funding for colleges in the South-East. IT Carlow will receive €1,074,000 while Waterford IT will receive €1,114,000.

JAMES BROWNE TD

Deputy Browne explained “this funding will allow for small scale capital investment and equipment needs based on the colleges own priorities including health and safety works, infrastructure upgrades, ICT renewal and energy upgrades.

“Capital investment is essential to ensuring a high-quality academic environment and a positive campus experience for students and staff. I hope that this funding will expand availability of student places and transform campus infrastructure over the coming years. 

Duncormick tales stored in the thatch

By Dan Walsh

The closure of the village pub in the manner enforced by Covid-19 restrictions is unprecedented since the introduction of licensing laws in the final decades of the 19th century. Perhaps, the wording on the new Sammy Sinnott memorial seat in Duncormick sums up the emergency measures in simple terms that can be taken as read; “Ah be God, that’s the way life goes.”

A Memorial Seat (on the left wall) to memory of Sammy Sinnott has been unveiled opposite the thatched pub where he lived for 90 years

John ‘Sammy’ Sinnott was a legendary Duncormick publican, who passed away at the age of 90 last January, He was ‘old school’, a man of unique character and a gentlemanly figure whose reputation extended far beyond his intimate thatched pub in the centre of the village where drama, creativity, folklore and a rich tapestry of stories were a nightly performance.

Soon after Sammy’s heavenly departure, the Duncormick Area Action Group intended to honour and recognise his popularity and contribution to the community on his 91st birthday – July 2nd – but the coronavirus halted the project.

Thankfully, the project – a concrete seat to the memory of Sammy Sinnott – located directly opposite his renowned thatched pub – has been recently unveiled and is gaining admiration from local and visitor alike.

SAMMY SINNOTT (photo courtesy of Cllr Jim Codd) and above the new SAMMY SINNOTT MEMORIAL SEAT in Duncormick village.

Sammy ran the family business, which was founded originally by his great grandmother who ‘left a pub in Cullenstown in 1795’ and came to start ‘Sinnott’s of Duncormick’.

In 2003, Sammy told the local newspaper; ‘My family have been here 208 years. When you’re around a place that long, there’s not a lot about the place that you don’t know.” He continued; “When my great grandmother came here, she only had a small place. A little huxter shop. Sure, we never got much bigger, we kept it small. People like you a lot better if you don’t get too big.”

Sammy was the only son of the late James Sinnott, while his mother Frances (née Berry) was a member of well-known equestrian Berry clan.

In Duncormick they speak of their beloved Sammy Sinnott with the pride of a local celebrity whose presence will be everlasting. “We hope that this seat will stand as a lasting memorial to a man who was a very big part of the village for 90 years,” echoed the locals with a united voice.

Man (70) dies in road collision near New Ross

A man in his 70s has died after the tractor he was driving overturned in a single vehicle fatal road traffic collision that occurred at Ballinabanogue, near New Ross, around 10.15am this morning. Emergency services rushed to the scene.

The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was removed to Waterford University Hospital where a post-mortem is due to take place.

Gardaí are appealing for any road users who may have camera footage, including dashcam footage, and were travelling in the Ballinabanogue/Ballywilliam area at the time to make this footage available to them.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact New Ross Garda Station on 051 426030, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

Liz Doyle double at local Wexford track

By Dan Walsh

Local trainer Liz Doyle, who trains at Crossabeg on the outskirts of Wexford, was princess of Bettyville Park today where she saddled a double on a fine afternoon.

There was a cracking finish to the second division of the mares maiden race at with Yabo (3/1) getting the better of  the Gordon Elliott trained Westcoast Tiger by a nose, with Sean Flanagan, Robinstown, New Ross, recently back from injury, the winning rider.

“I’m delighted. She is locally trained and locally owned and bred by Ned Power. Ned is just down the road and he is a bit under the weather at the minute. He said he was going to look at it and I’m delighted for him,” said Liz Doyle.

Doyle made it a double with Blaze A Trail (10/1) in the concluding handicap chase ridden by Sean O’Keeffe, Harveytstown, Taghmon, who was nursing an injury during the week. He is having a successful season and he is chuffed at riding winners on his local track.

Gordon Elliott was deprived of a double in the first two races by Westcoast Tiger’s defeat. He was compensated by the success of The Sliding Rock (7/2) in the first division for a three and a quarter length victory under Bryan Cooper.

There was a 40/1 shock winner in Gotthenod for Westmeath trainer Dot Love and jockey Simon Torrens in the handicap hurdle. That put an end to many punter’s winnings!

Four steeplechases on the seven-race card. Wins for Waterford trainer Henry de Bromhead and Racheal Blackmore with Paloma Blue (2/1 fav.). Another favourite to triumph was Rapid Response (7/4) for Jessica Harrington and Paddy Kennedy in the beginners’ chase. Father and son team, Sean and Noel McParlan travelled from Newry to win with the family owned and trained Deadheat (7/1) in the three miles and one-furlong handicap chase.

Next races at Bettyville Park takes place next Saturday, September 5th – details here on WexfordLocal.com later in the week – but it will be run ‘behind closed doors’ in line with government guidelines and regulations in regard to Covid-19 restrictions.

Saturday races ‘behind closed doors’

By Dan Walsh

Ground staff have been putting the finishing touches to Bettyville Park in preparation for Saturday’s race meeting which will be run ‘behind closed doors’ in line with Government Covid-19 guidelines. Sadly, no spectators are allowed on this occasion.

WEXFORD RACECOURSE looking fresh ahead of Saturday’s racing ‘behind closed doors’ under Covid-19 guidelines

Plenty of local trainers have runners and some local jockeys in action too amongst the 78 runners on the six-race card. There is a fine covering of lush green grass on the track, but recent heavy rain means that the ground conditions are likely to be ‘soft’.

THE CARD IS AS FOLLOWS; 2.30pm; The Extra Places On The BoyleSports App Mares Maiden Hurdle of €10,000 About 2 miles, 4 furlong.
3.05pm; The Live Streaming On The BoyleSports App Handicap Hurdle of €10,000 (Rated 80-102). About 2 miles, 4 furlongs.
3.40pm; The Money Back On The BoyleSports App Steeplechase of €15,500. About 2 miles
4.15pm; The Play Lotto On The BoyleSports App Beginners Steeplechase of €11,000. About 2 miles, 4 furlongs.
4.50pm; The BoyleSports This Is Betting Handicap Steeplechase of €11,000 (Rated 0-109) About 3 miles, 1 furlong.
5.20pm; The Download The BoyleSports App Handicap Steeplechase of €10,000 (Rated 0-102). About 2 miles, 4 furlongs.

All races will be televised live on Racing UK and on BoyleSports betting shop screens. Not as good as being trackside, but the next best thing!

Prosperous days at Wellingtonbridge

By Dan Walsh

The railway station at Wellingtonbridge is a desolate place these days, the remains of the 20-lever-frame signal cabin, platform and station buildings and some rusting tracks lie behind the level crossing gates, but the gaping landscape indicates that this was once a busy working railway serving a well populated historic area of south Wexford.

WELLINGTONBRIDGE RAILWAY STATION…now a wilderness for rail traffic

Located on the Limerick to Rosslare line, the station at Wellingtonbridge opened on August 1st, 1906. It presented cross-channel travel in a way never before envisaged. From Limerick, via Waterford and Rosslare Harbour to Wales and London Paddington, and vice versa. It was possible to travel by rail and ship on the same ticket! It was known as a ‘through’ fare!

The railway system was a lifeline for the farming community and allowed access to markets far from their immediate location with wagons available for the transport of sugar beet, cattle and horses which sustained a healthy freight trade and offered multiple employment opportunities up to the early 1960s.

Wellingtonbridge enjoyed the seasonal sugar beet trade and was a major beet loading installation with local growers bringing their produce to the station where it was loaded on to wagons and conveyed to the sugar processing plants at Carlow, Thurles, Mallow and Tuam, which operated between 1926 and the cessation of sugar beet processing in this country in 2006.

The season lasted about 16 weeks and required 1,000 wagons, but sugar beet was a good source of income for farmers and south Wexford became one of the principal sugar beet growing districts in the country.

All stations on the line, including Wellingtonbridge had single cabins and island platforms with a running line on each side. Many of them had level crossing gates.

It could be argued that the arrival of the railway diminished Bannow as a commercial centre and transferred the trade to Wellingtonbridge, however, it is recorded that summer rail excursions once brought massive numbers of bathers to Cullenstown beach.

Changing times and the loss of the sugar beet traffic meant the station was poorly supported for many years and then the inevitable happened. Wellingtonbridge Railway Station was closed on September 18th, 2010. It has been left to decay and may soon have the rails permanently removed and replaced by a 70kms modern ‘greenway’ from Waterford to Rosslare.

Euro challenge for Wexford primary schools

By Dan Wash

With schools reopening after a long lockdown the primary aim will be to return to ‘normal’ in the classroom as quickly as possible, and no better way than tackling a challenge. Primary school pupils in Co. Wexford and around the country are being challenged to get creative in how they learn and think about Europe through the Blue Star Programme, coordinated by European Movement Ireland.

The Blue Star Programme teaches primary school children about Europe through creative activities and projects that complement the national primary curriculum. Each participating class carries out projects on history, geography, the Institutions of the EU, culture and creativity with a European twist. Teachers and their classes have flexibility to be creative and tailor their projects towards their own individual needs and interests.

Enthusiastic students launch the 2020-2021 Blue Star Programme

Among the variety of Blue Star Programme activities of recent months, pupils took part in online quizzes and a ‘Virtual Handshake for Europe’ on Europe Day; others baked European dishes at home and built Lego structures of famous European landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower!

Speaking about the Programme, Noelle O’Connell, CEO of European Movement Ireland, told WexfordLocal.com “While it has been an understandably unusual and challenging year for pupils and teachers around Ireland, we were particularly encouraged to see the enthusiasm and creativity of pupils and teachers who participated in the Blue Star Programme during the last school year, largely from home when schools were closed. We were delighted to see a great number of participating schools complete the programme from home, finding new and innovative ways of completing project work.

“We look forward to another year of the Blue Star Programme as we are constantly greatly impressed by the imagination and innovation of both the participating teachers and their pupils.

Since its first year in 2011-2012, Wexford has had 34 primary schools participate, of the 1,100 schools that have registered nationwide, with every county represented to date.

Primary schools interested in taking part in the Blue Star Programme 2020-2021 can register until October 7th, 2020. Schools are also encouraged to host an event for Europe Day on May 9th, in school or online. Further information about the programme can be found at www.bluestarprogramme.ie 

Safe to go back on the beaches

Good news for anyone who likes a dip in the sea. Wexford County Council has confirmed that following recent testing, the water quality at Ballymoney, Morriscastle, Boley Bay and Duncannon has returned to the usual excellent standard.

As a result, the temporary prohibition on swimming at these beaches is being removed with effect from today (Tuesday).

DUNCANNON BEACH