No justification for more delays to A5 improvements says relative of …
Julia McSorley was among the victims of one of the most recent crashes on the road when she was killed as the minibus she was travelling in collided with a lorry. Her nephew and niece, Dan and Christine McKane, were also killed in the crash just outside Aughnacloy at the end of April. More than 50 people have died on the A5 since 2006, and a public inquiry into a new dual carriageway reopened yesterday.
Julie McGeehan and Tara McKenna, Ms McSorley’s daughter and granddaughter, attended the inquiry in Omagh[1]. Ms McKenna said the inquiry had offered no solutions to the safety issues, adding: “It’s just phenomenal nothing has really been done. “And even just listening in here today, there is no alternatives, there’s just arguments and objections to the scheme ahead and no solutions.
“It’s more climate and things surrounding that, and I understand that’s a factor in all of this as well, and that’s what we’re here for: to listen to that opposition as well, to give them the chance. “But the justification isn’t there at all, and we’re just disheartened to hear that, truly, and I’m a bit angry about it as well. We just cannot fathom that these are serious arguments against the A5.”
Julia McSorley’s widower Patsy (centre), daughter Julie McGeehan (right) and granddaughter Tara McKenna
The inquiry heard evidence on the potential environmental impact of the improvements, including on carbon emissions and increased traffic. Ms McGeehan said: “You hear people talk about appendixes, and just statistics and numbers, when you’re sitting there and you’ve just lost three members of your family. “They’re talking about replanting trees that might die when people are losing lives on the road, people are dying.”
Ms McGeehan said there was no justification for continued delay on the A5 scheme. “We don’t want another life to be lost on that road, no matter what they said in there. There’s just no justification for the stalling and the objections,” she said. The group opposing the project, Alternative A5 Alliance (AA5A), has raised concerns about land use and environmental impact. Ms McGeehan said the arguments against the road did not match the families’ losses.
“I can’t see anything that equals a human life no matter what argument they fire up there, it doesn’t equal people’s families,” she said.
The inquiry will continue until early June.