Sir, - Two items in your edition (February 6th), not ostensibly on the same subject but linked between the lines. A letter from Garreth O'Sullivan deplores - "the isolation, the fear, the loneliness of the elderly and urges readers to visit them. A news story by Frank McDonald describes a ministerial "blitzkrieg of sorts" to upgrade the county and regional road network . . . "a vital national asset" valued at £16 billion, carrying heavy trucks which could do as much damage as 10,000 cars.
I am more or less elderly and I live on the verge of one of these "vital national assets" - i.e., a minor country road which has in the past two decades become a roaring trough of constant traffic, very likely "10,000 cars" and most certainly "heavy trucks". Last year, with many of my neighbours, I signed letters and phoned and visited county councillors in an effort to have a foot path built (no more than 400 yards) to enable us to leave our homes and reach Corrandulla village in safety, on foot or by bicycle? We were bf course turned down - "insufficient density of population".
Now, will the new blitzkrieg include in its largesse decent foot paths and/or cycle lanes as well as the much advertised pothole fillings? Does Mr Howlin think at all of those who do not possess four wheels but must make do with only two, or maybe just with a pair of legs? I very much hope he does. For as it is, I feel damnably isolated; I can't ask to be visited, lest the visitors lose their lives in the attempt, but I would quite like, now and then, to do some visiting of my own.
I am more scared of murder by motorists than by muggers; and the filling in of potholes could even make things worse. - Yours, etc.,
Gort Roe,
Corrandulla,
Co Galway.
PS. - I personally know five people (one of them my own son) who have been knocked down and injured on this road.