Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Now we're coming back home because a protest is being planned by some Navan residents due to an increasing amount of injuries caused, they say, by the dangerous condition of local footpaths. A protest is planned outside the next meeting of Navan Municipal District on the 22nd of April. Ben White's father-in-law was badly injured in a fall a few years ago.
Ben is on the line and I'm joined by Alan Laws who's an independent councillor based in Johnstown in Navan and Alan has been campaigning on this for a number of years. Ben, I'll start with you. Good morning to you, first of all, and thank you for joining us in the programme.
Chapter 2: What dangerous conditions are residents facing on local footpaths in Navan?
So tell me, this is about the estate, the Priory estate, is that right?
Yeah, that's right, Clare. We're an estate in County Mead of approximately 80 and forward slash 100 houses, mixed residents, retirees,
many commuters working in Dublin and I suppose the historical context would be the estate would be a product of the Celtic Tiger era and it's probably north of 30 years old at this stage and my understanding through research is that developer or builder builds estate and the process then is to handed over to Meade County Council.
But in this case, it was never handed over and the estate was left in limbo or unmanaged in the interim. So what we have now is potholes, broken paths, you know, an estate falling into disrepair from a from a construction perspective.
Yeah, I saw some pictures in the Irish Independent this morning. I mean, it really is, it really does look rough on those footpaths and people are tripping and falling and badly injuring themselves. Take us through some of the things that have happened.
Well, I mean, my own father-in-law, we were coming back from Super Value and I kind of took my eye off the ball, Clare. He's north of 83 and he fell and tumbles. Now he's robust enough and recovered.
um but you know um a lesser human might have had a different outcome um yeah so um i understand the lady in the interim has broken her wrist um and they're just two of the reported ones you know i've had a few you know stumbles over the years myself but i mean uh you know aligned to the fact we're paying a local property tax clear um and 70 or 80 percent of this estate would be
you know, PAYE workers, I'm guessing.
Yeah, and that's what these type of things that we were told the local property tax would do, right?
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Chapter 3: What personal experiences highlight the risks of unsafe footpaths?
Correct, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember Fergus O'Dowd in his tenure as Environmental Minister, Fianna Gael sold us the property tax on the back of this that, you know, we would have services within our community, you know, the grasses would be cut, the trees would be pruned, etc, etc. Now I know
in the context of what's going on in the world, it's probably a first world problem and broken parts in the schemes of everything that's going on right now probably doesn't sit high on many lists or many people's agendas.
I know. Look, it's important. You have to be able to walk around in and out of your house without, you know, in fear of tripping and falling and breaking your wrist. I'll bring in Alan at this point. Good morning, Alan.
Good morning, Clare.
So you've been campaigning on this for a couple of years now. What's the news on it?
Well, basically, I raised it again, not for the first time at February's MD meeting. And we're getting the same answer. I've done this over a few years. There was a proper application made for the estate to be handed over back in 2021. And the problem, as outlined from there, was the builders that built this estate went bankrupt. and basically the estate was never completed properly.
So you had paths throughout the estate that were cracked nearly from the time they were put down, and then potholes have appeared and got worse over the years as well. So myself and other councillors have raised this issue over many years, and we keep on getting the same answer.
And when you look at the picture there of Ben Fadden, I mean, he was badly shaken up, and he was badly bruised around the face And the lady that broke her wrist, for example, that lady, I know personally, she's a personal friend of mine, and that lady had a brain injury to start with. And we're so, so lucky that she actually only fell on her wrist and not on her head.
And then we have the most recent one, the picture in The Independent of an older lady as well that was calling to another resident and took a trip. What we're trying to do is, you know, we're talking about health and safety here. We're talking about people getting injured.
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