Hundreds of people attend A5 meeting ahead of public inquiry

HUNDREDS of people attended a meeting in Omagh this week to hear demands for the completion of the long-delayed upgrade to the A5.

The meeting was organised by the ‘A5 Enough is Enough’ campaign group, and took place ahead of the A5 public inquiry which is due to commence thsi Monday,

Relatives of people who were killed on the route were among those in attendance.

They included Kate Corrigan from Garvaghey, whose son, Nathan, was killed alongside two of his friends, Petey McNamee from Sixmilecross and Peter Finnegan from Clogher, in the early hours of December 27, 2021.

“Nathan was 20, his 21st birthday was the following week. I couldn’t put a price on his life and there’s no money that I would not pay to have him back,” she said.

“For me, finances, environmental laws, don’t really come into it. It’s human lives that count and human lives that matter.”

Another speaker, Dungannon-based businessman, Daniel McCusker, described travelling on the road as ‘Russian Roulette’.

Mr McCusker runs DMAC Engineering, which employs 130 people.

He said that his workers travel the A5 route from its premises in Killyman to engineering firms in Omagh, including Terex.

“It’s Russian Roulette in terms of every time you send people out on that road. It just seems like accidents are waiting to happen,” he added.

“This project needs to be taken seriously, and sorted out.”

Chairman of the A5 Enough is Enough group, Niall McKenna, said local people will not except anything less than a full dual-carriageway.

“Our message is clear: The only thing that we will accept is a new road, a new dual-carriageway all the way from Aughnacloy to Newbuildings,” he said.

“Enough is Enough – there have been enough deaths on this road, and it is long past the time to deliver the new road.

“I beg the people who are against this project to please reflect and reconsider.”