A5 upgrade: Group calling for end to delays launched in Tyrone

A large crowd has attended the launch in County Tyrone of a group formed to demand action over delays to the A5 upgrade.

The meeting at Tyrone GAA centre included relatives of people killed on the road, which forms part of the main route between Londonderry and Dublin.

Plans to upgrade the A5 were announced in 2007 but have been delayed amid funding issues and legal challenges.

According to ‘Enough is Enough’ 44 people have since died on the road.

The proposed upgrade would improve the road between Aughnacloy in County Tyrone and New Buildings in County Londonderry.

The Department for Infrastructure said the estimated cost of the project was £1.6 billion – up £4 million from the last estimate.

Kate Corrigan, mother of Nathan Corrigan who died in an accident on the road in December 2021 which also claimed the lives of two other men, said: “It is great that a community has come together, the GAA community, and people from all areas – all communities coming together to support this.”

She said that the upgrade to the road should have happened long ago.

“Nathan was our youngest. He was the life and soul of the house and we have to piece back our lives together without him and that’s very tough.”

Mrs Corrigan said it was good to be a part of something positive and that hopefully ‘Enough is Enough’ would help to make a difference.

Local resident Roger Lomas said he had lost family members and friends on the A5 and expressed his frustration over the delay in having the road upgraded.

“I think its just one excuse after the other – we need results not talk,” he said.

“I’m confident something will happen, just anything that takes the traffic away from the residential areas here in Tyrone.”

Niall McKenna, chairman of ‘Enough is Enough’ said he was motivated to form the group after the death of 21-year-old John Rafferty who was a member of his own GAA club in Killyclogher and died in a collision on the road at the end of last year.

“I saw the devastation that it did to my own club, his teammates and particularly to the Rafferty family,” Mr McKenna said at the meeting in Garvaghy.

When Tyrone GAA held their monthly meeting with local clubs in attendance he said he had seen many people in the crowd that had lost loved ones on the road.

“A few of us got speaking and we just said, surely enough is enough. This road, which is a death-trap, is killing our membership.”

The Department for Infrastructure said it was “acutely aware of the collision history along the existing road” and that it sympathised with families who have lost loved ones.

“The department is doing all we can within our powers to progress the A5 Western Transport project in line with statutory procedures,” a spokesperson added.

The department said that a consultation had commenced and it encouraged anyone with an interest to make their views known during the consultation period.