A detailed 'walkability audit' of Monaghan Town has flagged the state of footpaths, crossing points at junctions and disabled parking as the main problems for people getting around the town on foot, and its findings are now being used to make the case for funding.
Sinn Féin councillor Seán Conlon, who chairs Monaghan County Council's Disability Steering Committee, told Northern Sound on Wednesday, 21 October, that he hopes the report will help secure money for road safety improvements across the town. He said the audit was carried out to assess how well the town supports safe and accessible movement for everyone in the community.
According to Cllr Conlon, a lot of the focus during the audit went on the condition of footpaths, particularly for people with mobility issues. Crossing points at junctions and the provision of disabled parking also came up as problems. "Much needs to be done to improve road safety in Monaghan Town," he said.
He said the report does two jobs: it records the views of the public, and it strengthens the council's hand when it applies for funding to carry out the work. He also appealed to drivers to "share the road" and show courtesy to vulnerable road users trying to cross.
What the council has said about the audit
The audit was first mentioned publicly in September, when Cllr Sinéad Flynn, as chair of the Monaghan Women's Assembly, asked the council executive to set out the safety audits carried out in each municipal district.
In its reply, reported by Northern Sound on 8 September, the executive said a walkability audit of Monaghan Town focused on older people had been carried out earlier this year. Once the detailed audit and report were complete, the areas needing attention would be identified and some of them folded into the ongoing maintenance schedule for the town. Larger items, it said, might need their own funding applications, or could be done as part of bigger projects where they overlap.
The same reply set out where audits stand elsewhere in the county:
- Clones: issues from earlier audits in the Ballybay-Clones district have gone into the maintenance programme, including better public lighting on Fermanagh Street, with the remaining work to come through future funding applications.
- Castleblayney: the Disability Network organised a walkability audit of the town in June.
- Carrickmacross and Castleblayney: Women's Safety Audits were carried out in both towns in October 2024, and public lighting improvements followed in late February. Remaining issues are being dealt with through annual maintenance and, depending on their scale, through wider bids such as the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.
The Disability Steering Committee
The committee Cllr Conlon chairs is new. Monaghan County Council agreed to set it up in May to lead the development of a five-year Disability Strategy for the county, with Cllrs Seán Conlon, Peter Conlon and Seamus Coyle appointed to it. Its first meeting took place in the summer, and Cllr Conlon described it at the time as a "milestone moment" for the council's work on disability. The committee plans a work plan covering intellectual, physical and sensory disability, working with the ETB on inclusive education and with the Department of Social Protection on employment and housing.
No timeline for publishing the full Monaghan Town audit report, or a list of specific streets and junctions to be fixed, was given in the published reports.
For other recent road and footpath plans in the town, see our report on the N2 northern gateway footpath and crossing at Derrynagrew.
