Out of order traffic lights at busy Wexford junction is ‘beyond a joke’

Problems started to arise with the set of traffic lights outside of Tesco, at the junction with King Street, back in March and since then, they have been out on no fewer than five occasions, sometimes for days.

Having seen the lights out for a couple of days now, many are at their wits end. Approaching the junction by car or on foot now results in a dangerous game of chicken and it has resulted in accidents on a couple of occasions.

Of particular concern is how difficult it has become for children to cross the road there on their way to school.

Although a councillor for the Rosslare District, Independent councillor Ger Carthy said that it was “beyond a joke” that it could take this long to rectify the issue.

"Spaghetti junction they’re calling it now at this stage,” he fumed. “There are serious risks to the safety of motorists and pedestrians there and we’ve already seen a couple of accidents. This is one of the busiest junctions in town. I’d call on the Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council (George Lawlor) to get the matter sorted. He’s driving past it every day.”

For his part, Cllr Lawlor said that engineers were expected at the junction on Wednesday to rectify the issue.

"I’d like to assure Cllr Carthy that we are on it,” he said. “This is the fifth time the lights have been out and I’ve been onto engineers about it. The person responsible for fixing them has assured me that the fix will be a permanent one this time and my information is that he will be on site today to carry out the necessary work.”

Cllr Lawlor conceded that it was “an absolutely ludicrous situation to have these lights out so frequently”.

"We did see an accident there already,” he said. “And there will be further ones if we don’t get this sorted ASAP.”