Bereaved daughter ‘relieved’ over A5 road appeal

“This is absolutely what needs to happen,” Ms O’Neill told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

“There will likely be delays but hopefully there still will be some light at the end of the tunnel for this road.”

The A5 is the Northern Ireland part of the major arterial route that connects the north-west of the island – Donegal and Londonderry – to Dublin.

It runs through towns including Strabane, Omagh and Aughnacloy.

Ms O’Neill is among campaigners who want a major upgrade to proceed to improve safety on what is considered one of Northern Ireland’s most dangerous roads.

Her 72-year-old mother died in January 2018, two weeks after sustaining serious injuries on the A5.

Ms McGarvey had been crossing the road to go to Mass at St Matthew’s Church in Garvaghy, County Tyrone, when she was hit by a car.

The last phonecall the pensioner made to her daughter before the collision was to offer to babysit for her, which Ms O’Neill previously said was “typical of her nature”.

Having lost her mother on the A5, she continues to worry about the safety of the rest of her family who still have to use the existing route.

She told the programme the upgrade “was initially meant to have started in 2006 when my son was born – he’s now 19 years of age”.

“He drives up and down that road several times a week to Garvaghy for his football training.

“He is the third member of his team to have lost a close family member on that road.”

Last Monday, High Court judge Mr Justice McAlinden ruled the A5 project should not go ahead in its current form, saying the Department for Infrastructure’s plans did not comply with climate change targets.

In his 97-page judgement, he ruled there had been an “inadequacy of information for the purpose of lawful decision making”.

“There is no specific mention of the proposed new road or its potential impact on climate change objectives and yet it would appear that overall, Northern Ireland may have difficulty staying within the first carbon budget that has now been set.”

The case was brought by the Alternative A5 Alliance – a group of residents, farmers and landowners who face their property being vested to make way for the new road.

Justice McAlinden’s judgement said the project would necessitate the demolition of three homes and temporarily affect direct access to more than 130 others.

He said the Department for Infrastructure did not make any reference to the human rights issues that had been raised by the Planning Appeals Commission.

“I feel that the sentiments from Justice McAlinden are that he would like this road to go ahead, but the Department of Infrastructure have to do their homework and he has to follow the law,” Ms O’Neill said.

“He said there was a lack of detail about how this project will satisfy the greenhouse gas emission targets.

“So they need to go back and review the Climate Change Act and present that evidence.”

Ms O’Neill said Minister Kimmins and her Sinn Féin colleague, First Minister Michelle O’Neill both spoke passionately about their determination to proceed with the A5.

But she added: “With all due respect, we’ve heard this narrative for almost 20 years now.”

The campaigner said the clash with climate change legislation was “really a problem of Stormont’s own making” and responsibility for the future of the road was now in the Department of Infrastructure hands.

Karen McShane, a civil engineer and expert on infrastructure, told Good Morning Ulster the Department for Infrastructure has little choice other than to appeal.

“It’s the biggest infrastructure project in Northern Ireland,” she said.

“If the minister doesn’t appeal this decision, we’re back to square one.

“What do you do? You then have to submit a new [planning] application and start the process all over again.”

Ms McShane said the department now needs to demonstrate to a court how the A5 plan will comply with the 2022 Climate Change Act.

She suggested officials could do that by showing how the new road would improve the uptake of public transport.

“Those services need to be a guaranteed journey,” she explained.

“Whats happening currently is they are stuck behind a tractor on the A5 and you can’t run them to a proper timetable.

“So having that road, with connected park-and-ride facilities, you can take cars off the road network and actually improve the carbon reduction.”

Asked if she thinks the A5 will ever be completed, Ms McShane said: “I do believe it will go ahead in my lifetime.

“I’m not so sure the appeal will be successful, but we’ll wait and see.”