Cross-party support was given to a Dáil motion on behalf of Sinn Fein that called on government to honour its commitment to fund 50% of the proposed upgrade to the A5 road.
The special meeting took place yesterday evening. Members of the A5 Enough is Enough Campaign group, and relatives of those who lost their lives on the road, were in the Dáil public gallery for the debate, and made a presentation to Oireachtas members earlier in the day.
It comes after the Irish Government recently reiterated its support for the construction of the new A5 dual carriageway which runs on from the N2 between Aughnacloy and Newbuildings near Derry.
Adressing Oireachtas members, group chairman Niall McKenna said that members we will continue to lobby all decision makers in an attempt to get this programme of works finally moving and make an impact where it is needed the most - which is saving lives. "Whilst we do accept that everyone has the legal right to object, we argue that the right to life trumps all other rights," he explained. "At the moment we are currently averaging one death on this road every four months, that's the statistics but these people are not statistics. These tragedies are leaving families, homes and communities devastated."
Kate Corrigan is the mother of Nathan Corrigan, who lost his life along with two others on the A5 at Christmas 2021. Speaking during yesterday's presentation, she called for upgrades to be carried out as soon as possible to prevent other families from losing a loved one.
"Each time we hear of an road traffic collision, especially on the A5, we are retraumatised and triggered all over again. The grief and pain of losing Nathan will never go away. We need the upgrade to go ahead, we do not want any other families going through what we went through."
