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Traffic Management in Wexford

Heres an article submitted by a reader who wants his name and Email address withheld. We think its quite good:

On the subject of Traffic in Wexford Town, it amazes me that the Corporation are spending what one can only guess is a huge sum of money in contracting external traffic management consultants to do a survey on traffic flow and issue recommendations.

We have all seen the black rubber cables across the roads around the town, that are counting cars, but we already know where the major problems are!

Isn't it amazing that the only piece of initiative shown by the Corporation in recent years was to put a roundabout at the bottom of Hill St...and it worked!

Now if that worked, could we not try more roundabouts at some of the disastrous areas of the town, mainly the Quays?

Traffic flow on the Quays is diabolical and the main cause of hold-ups is "right-turns", i.e. traffic trying to 'right-turn' off the Quay into one of the side streets, or traffic coming out of the side streets trying to 'right-turn' to get onto the Quay. These cars hold up everything behind them while waiting for a gap in the traffic.

If all 'right-turns' were totally banned, this would free things up dramatically. To do this you would need roundabouts along the Quay, e.g. at the Bridge and at the L&N carpark. Then cars could turn left at all times, and swing back round at the roundabouts. It works coming out of Sam McCauleys car park, where you can't turn right, imagine if cars were allowed turn right there? There would be huge problems!

Why not also a roundabout at the top of Hill St to ease the backlog of cars all the way up John St that are held up by people wanting to 'right-turn' down Hill St? And while we're at it a roundabout at the junction of Summerhill and Wexford Park, instead of those traffic lights would make perfect sense. The cross there is more than wide enough!

Roundabouts do work, its been proven already, lets have some more of them and ban those 'right-turns'!

Who's Kidding Who?....Councillor Roche?

The ongoing and unbelievable harassment and attacks on young girls and their parents making their way to Holy Cross Girls Primary School in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast continues.

Media reporting of this unforgivable terrorising of children has been lost amongst the blanket coverage given to the disastrous events in the States. But not before Councillor Johnny Roche was prompted to write an article in 'The County Wexford Press' despairing at the very existence of "a peace process at all".

Cllr Roche is quite correct to describe these events as "naked sectarian bigotry" but it is his taking of "Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Co." to task and describing their performance as "nauseating" while pardoning David Trimble that defies logic? Lets do a quick comparison here and keep it simple.

Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have been instrumental in transforming the whole Republican movement. The IRA have withdrawn from the field to accomodate the peace process and are maintaining a strict ceasefire, despite nightly pipe bombings and provocation by loyalist paramilitaries. Sinn Féin signed up to the Good Friday Agreement and attempt to work it in its entirety. Who would have thought only a few short years ago that the Republican movement would be where it stands today?

On the other hand, we have David Trimble, who has twice brought down the Northern Assembly. He fails to accept the very existence of the Independent Parades Commission, never mind support their rulings. He does not allow the Independent International Decomissioning Body to do their work or accept their findings. He does not support Cross Border Bodies, does not support the Patten Report on Policing, does not support the Human Rights Commissioner. He does not want Sinn Féin Ministers in the Northern Assembly despite those members and their Party being returned as the largest Nationalist Party in Junes General Election. He signed his name to all these things but fails to keep his bond and attempts to rewrite the whole Agreement.

The people of Northern ireland voted for the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and their votes oblige David Trimble, who signed up to the Agreement to implement it. But just what part of the Agreement or what single Independent Report or Body does Mr Trimble actually support? His silence whilst Loyalists pipe bomb Nationalist homes, murdered three young men over the summer and plant car bombs, such as the one at Ballycastle Auld Lammas Fair, or on the situation in Ardoyne....is deafening!

Mr Trimble it seems, seeks a return to the old days of a Unionist dominated Northern Assembly. That is not what the Good Friday Agreement was all about. In fact those days of denying Nationalists their civil rights and their cultural identity are what caused the problems in the first place. And while a Political vacuum is allowed to exist, then it creates an athmosphere where events perpetrated by those drawn from his own community, such as those seen in Ardoyne will flourish.

It is quite apparent that there has been a sea-change in the Republican Movement and that it is inspired by the leadership of "Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Co." It is also quite apparent that Unionism is struggling to bring itself into the 21st Century and to accomodate their fellow citizens as equals.

Yes Cllr Roche, it is hard to be optimistic about the current state of the Peace process, but if we're going to start ascribing blame, then we really must ask....."who's kidding who?"

George W Bush..?

President George W. Bush declared last Thursday, "You're either with us or you're with the Terrorists!"
This is the Leader of the 'Free World' and the Defender of Free Speech talking.
Except that in this situation it seems that if you are going to stop and think and express concern about the consequences and the inevitable innocent victims of US retalitory strikes on Afghanistan, that you are somehow 'Anti American' and sympathise with the Terrorists.
If you have an opinion on this maybe you should drop a line to president@whitehouse.gov

Bourke's Log

Well done to Simon Bourke for his article in this weeks Echo newspaper entitled "The Vocabulary of War". If you haven't already read it, you should. He didn't mention that Tone & Emmet, Pearse & Connolly, Collins & DeValera were all also known as 'Terrorists' in their time. But of course in world history there are just too many examples to mention. Anyway we're reprinting here his handy cut-out-and-keep-guide:

"Our way of life" - wealth
"The freedoms we enjoy" - wealth
"Western democracy" - wealth
"The West" - the developed North
"The Global Alliance" - the developed North
"Rogue States" - countries which refuse to do the United States bidding and which are weak enough
for the United States to threaten or attack. Not China!
"Terrorism" - war as carried on by weak countries
"War" - terrorism as carried on by powerful countries
"Terrorist" - former statesman or future freedom fighter
"Statesman" - former or future terrorist
"Precision bombing" - bomb lands somewhere in the right country
"Surgical Strike" - direct hit on combine harvester
"A10 Tankbuster" - A10 Tractorbuster
"Collateral damage" - murder

Coming Soon...

An article enquiring about the ongoing state of Ferrybank across the Bridge in Wexford Town. Just what is happening with that site? Does anybody know? If you have anything to contribute, let us know!