Dear David,
I am writing to you in relation to lands owned by Coillte in Sralagagh, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo. Part of this land is burdened by a right of way and turbary rights owned by a large number of individuals. Turfcutting is very active on these lands.
The lands are accessed by 2 roads which were built in the 1940s and most of which has not received any maintenance in living memory -probably not since they were built.
However, one of the roads has developed a problem at a small bridge. This bridge started to collapse last year and has since been totally washed away. The gap in the road is being filled in by people to maintain the right of way, but the crossing is very dangerous as it brings the driver (including quite a lot of heavy machinery) past a sharp drop of about 12 foot on an unsuitable base of sponge. It is also being washed away at every rainfall.
I urge you to take action to make this bridge safe for traffic. Apart from upholding the right of way that burdens the land, I would also point to the Occupier's Liability Acts which require all landowners to keep their lands in a safe condition. I would also point out that the cost of fixing this bridge is quite small (in the hundreds, not the thousands), it only needs a new pipe, some filling material, and a bit of cased concrete on the side with the big fall. The cost of this repair is miniscule when you consider the risk to human life that its current state presents.
I do not wish to conduct the repairs myself (as suggested by one of your staff to our local TD) as I do not want to take the responsibility/liability for this problem onto myself. That should rightly belong to the landowner.
I have been corresponding with your litigation section on this matter since February, however they do not seem to appreciate the urgency of it, and especially the risk to human life. In the last 5 months, I have written twice to them myself and also I know a local TD has written at least twice to them urging them to respond to me -all I have received in response to this is a holding letter. I feel we are getting nowhere and are drifting towards an inevitable disaster.
Please, I ask you to speak with your staff on this matter, and impress upon them that action is needed on this soon. Fully loaded trailers will be crossing this bridge within weeks. This matter should have been wrapped up in the early spring, but is being allowed to drift indefinitely.
sincerely
