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Factual record. No finding of causation or responsibility is made here.

€400,000 on the Cashel–Cahir greenway with no route and no design

Council watch · spending · source-led record

What was said, and by whom

At the January 2026 meeting of the Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel Municipal District, Councillor Declan Burgess (Fine Gael; Cashel–Tipperary LEA per the Council Watch roster) raised the Cashel-to-Cahir greenway. His words, as reported:

"Over €400,000 now has been given to the greenway project from Cahir to Cashel, and we still haven't got a design, we still haven't got a route selected, and there's been no further consultations."

The reply came from James Swords, District Engineer:

"I'll get them to do a report on the Cashel to Cahir greenway and submit it to the members here for consideration."

What the project is

The Cashel–Cahir greenway is a proposed walking and cycling route linking the two towns and connecting sites including the Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle. It was first proposed in 2023. Reports state the funding came from Active Travel allocations over several years and that, as of January 2026, the project remained at the concept and feasibility-study stage. The reports do not itemise what the €400,000 was spent on.

What this record establishes, and what it does not

  • It establishes, from a councillor's statement on the record and the District Engineer's reply, that more than €400,000 had been allocated to the greenway with no route selected and no design produced by January 2026.
  • It does not establish who received the €400,000, what each study cost, or whether the spend was improper. Feasibility work is a normal stage of a greenway scheme; the record here is that three years and €400,000 in, that stage was not complete.
  • Active Travel funding is a separate national funding stream from bridge-rehabilitation funding. This page does not claim that greenway money could or should have been spent on any bridge.

The same district

The greenway and Killardry Bridge sit in the same municipal district and come before the same members and the same District Engineer. The Council's own written decision of 18 February 2026 states that the repair works listed in the 2014 principal inspection of Killardry Bridge "have not been carried out to date" — the Council's internal-review decision. That 2014 report costed the parapet repointing and repair at €250 and €200, scheduled for 2017 — the 2014 Eirspan inspection.

The family's position: Bronagh's family reads these two dated records together as a question about the district's attention, not its accounts: greenway funding and bridge funding are separate streams, and the family does not say one should have paid for the other. What it asks is how the same district, the same members and the same District Engineer could see a greenway reach €400,000 of spend by January 2026 while a parapet repair the Council's own 2014 inspection costed at €450 had, on the Council's own 18 February 2026 account, still not been carried out. As Bronagh's parents said on record: "One small cone and she'd be with us" (Tipperary Live, October 2025). That is presented as the family's position, not as a finding that any funding was misdirected or that any person caused Bronagh's death.

Sources

  • Irish Independent, "Questions raised after €400,000 spent on greenway project in Tipperary with no plans produced", 28 January 2026 — https://www.independent.ie/county/tipperary/questions-raised-after-400000-spent-on-greenway-project-in-tipperary-with-no-plans-produced/a/126857460.html
  • Travel Extra, "Questions raised over €400,000 spent on Tipperary Greenway Project with no plan" — https://www.travelextra.ie/questions-raised-over-e400000-spent-on-tipperary-greenway-project/
  • Ireland Live, "REVEALED: Councillor questions €400,000 spent on greenway without any plans shown" — https://www.ireland-live.ie/news/revealed-councillor-questions-eu400000-spent-on-greenway-without-any-plans-shown-6641533
  • Tipperary County Council, FOI internal-review decision, 18 February 2026 (held on file; published readback linked above)
  • South Tipperary Eirspan Principal Inspection Report TS-LP3101-001.00, 4 March 2014 (held on file; published readback linked above)

Factual record. No finding of causation or responsibility is made here.

Road Death Tipp Road Death Tipp Tipperary road deaths — remembrance and records Remembrance and the official records, county by year. Working annual total. Not a count of points on the map. Open the map Partial map coverage. No ages shown. Explore → Partial map coverage. No ages shown.
Cahir–Cashel road statistics Cahir–Cashel Deadly place to drive ↗ × Cahir–Cashel road statistics Road statistics · sourced comparison Cahir–Cashel: 3.03× the national road-death rate 1 January 2018–31 December 2023 (six complete calendar years) . In the full Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel Municipal District, including its rural areas, the derived annualized rate was 8.61 people killed per 100,000 residents , compared with 2.84 nationally . This is an area comparison relative to population, not a personal likelihood. This page uses the full municipal district, not the populations of Cahir and Cashel towns. The linked road-deaths map and record has broader coverage and a different purpose. The headline figures 23 people killed in 21 fatal-collision records in the district 8.61 annualized people killed per 100,000 residents 3.03× the State rate on this population basis 36.5% of County Tipperary’s deaths and 26.5% of its population; the district rate was 37.6% above the county rate. District results The district’s fixed Census 2022 population is 44,532 . The 23 people comprised 11 drivers, 5 passengers, 5 pedestrians, 2 motorcyclists . They were not all drivers. Annual district deaths were 6, 4, 1, 3, 3, 6 from 2018 to 2023. Scroll horizontally to read this table. Five Tipperary municipal districts District 2022 population Fatal-collision records People killed People killed per 100,000 per year Clonmel 25,003 10 13 8.67 Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel 44,532 21 23 8.61 Carrick-on-Suir 20,191 7 7 5.78 Nenagh 40,879 11 12 4.89 Thurles 37,290 8 8 3.58 Scroll horizontally to read this table. Annual people killed Year Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel County Tipperary State 2018 6 10 134 2019 4 13 140 2020 1 7 141 2021 3 10 132 2022 3 7 152 2023 6 16 179 County comparison National baseline: the Republic of Ireland recorded 878 people killed across a fixed Census 2022 population of 5,149,139 , an annualized rate of 2.84 per 100,000 residents over these six years. Tipperary recorded 63 people killed , a rate of 6.25 , ranking #2 of 26 counties behind Monaghan (6.38). Tipperary’s rate was 2.20 times the national rate. Scroll horizontally to read this table. All 26 counties, ranked by annualized rate; the CSO county aggregate does not supply mapped source-record counts Rank County 2022 population People killed Fatal-collision records People killed per 100,000 per year 1 Monaghan 65,288 25 — 6.38 2 Tipperary 167,895 63 — 6.25 3 Donegal 167,084 53 — 5.29 4 Roscommon 70,259 22 — 5.22 5 Louth 139,703 41 — 4.89 6 Cavan 81,704 23 — 4.69 7 Mayo 137,970 38 — 4.59 8 Offaly 83,150 22 — 4.41 9 Kerry 156,458 41 — 4.37 10 Kilkenny 104,160 27 — 4.32 11 Leitrim 35,199 9 — 4.26 12 Longford 46,751 11 — 3.92 13 Westmeath 96,221 22 — 3.81 14 Clare 127,938 29 — 3.78 15 Meath 220,826 49 — 3.70 16 Sligo 70,198 15 — 3.56 17 Limerick 209,536 44 — 3.50 18 Wexford 163,919 34 — 3.46 19 Galway 277,737 49 — 2.94 20 Carlow 61,968 9 — 2.42 21 Cork 584,156 83 — 2.37 22 Laois 91,877 12 — 2.18 23 Waterford 127,363 15 — 1.96 24 Wicklow 155,851 18 — 1.92 25 Kildare 247,774 25 — 1.68 26 Dublin 1,458,154 99 — 1.13 A higher district comparator Boyle Municipal District, County Roscommon, recorded 15 people killed in 14 source records from a population of 24,421: 10.24 per 100,000 , about 19% higher than Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel. This is not a claim that Boyle is Ireland’s worst district; 11 districts were screened in this targeted comparison. Clonmel’s 8.67 rate is marginally higher than Cahir–Cashel’s 8.61; the largest raw count is not the highest district rate. Public council minutes: 2024–2026 These later public records are separate from the 2018–2023 statistical comparison. They record requests, responses and planned work—not findings of causation or proof that work was completed. 2025-05-26 James Swords: recorded response to a safety request The minutes record Councillor John O’Heney asking for safety measures following a recent tragic incident. James Swords is listed as District Engineer present; the response is attributed to that role. Limit: The minute does not name the bridge or specify a parapet repair. It does not say that Gardaí were to design or direct a bridge repair. there is an ongoing Gardai investigation into the incident and if there are any recommendations from the report it will be implemented. Excerpt from the minutes, not a verbatim speech transcript. Official minutes — attendance and District Engineer, PDF p. 1 — Officials Present; James Swords, District Engineer Official minutes — District Engineer’s report, PDF p. 5 — Item 3.4, District Engineer’s Report Official minutes — recorded response, PDF p. 6 — Item 3.4, District Engineer’s Report 2024-10-14 Máirín McGrath seconded the default-speed-limit motion Motion 2861 was proposed by Cllr Niall Dennehy and seconded by Cllr Máirín McGrath, a Cahir LEA member. The full County Council recorded unanimous agreement. The motion sought selective application of the new default limits, rather than universal application across the county. Limit: This was not a motion introducing a blanket 80-to-60 reduction. The December clarification below records the legal-advice referral. Official October minutes — Motion 2861, PDF p. 12 — Item 8.2, Notice of Motion Ref. 2861 Official October minutes — unanimous outcome, PDF p. 15 — Notice of Motion Ref. 2861 outcome Official Council AGM minutes — elected-area roles, PDF p. 2 — Item 2.1, elected members by electoral area 2024-12-09 Council clarification and legal advice The minutes record Chief Executive Sinéad Carr acknowledging support for Motion 2861, while explaining that legal advice was being sought on whether a plenary motion could supersede national legislation. The October minutes were to be amended to reflect that clarification. Limit: This does not establish a road-specific exception or a suspension of national rules. Official December minutes — clarification, PDF p. 2 — Item 3.1, Matters Arising on October minutes 2025-01-13 80-to-60 implementation and weather-delayed signs The minutes record 7 February 2025 as the commencement date for the rural-local-road default reduction from 80 to 60 km/h. They also record severe weather delaying sign-installation work and distinguish a later, wider Phase 2 review. Limit: This is a dated implementation note, not proof of the limit or weather at any individual crash site. Official January minutes — Speed Limit Review, PDF p. 11 — Item 7.1, Roads, Transportation, Health & Safety 2026-05-25 477 district bridges; 14 applications; three funded The District Engineer reported €1 million in county bridge funding, 477 bridges in the district, applications for 14 bridges requiring work and funding for three. Limit: The minute does not establish whether Killardry was among the 14; funding is not proof of completed work. Official May 2026 minutes — bridge funding, PDF p. 6 — Item 3.6, District Engineer’s Report 2026-05-25 Temporary measures considered at Rehill Bridge Following Cllr Máirín McGrath’s request for urgent rehabilitation, the District Engineer reported that Rehill tender documents were nearly complete and temporary measures were being considered to reopen the bridge, with completion hoped for by the end of that week. Limit: This records a plan and expectation, not verified completion. Official May 2026 minutes — Rehill Bridge, PDF p. 6 — Item 3.6, District Engineer’s Report The earlier bridge inspection The family’s published summary of Council inspection record TY-L3151-B-010 reports “Significant Damage” on 21 January 2025 and records downstream capping as “partly removed”. That inspection predates both the 24 April 2025 collision and the 26 May 2025 meeting response. Limit: This is a summary of a Council record held on file, not the original report online. The records checked do not establish whether or when James Swords personally received or read the inspection report. Published family summary of the Council inspection record When was the inspection circulated to the district engineering team, and what action was recorded? Further accountability research Read the full sourced record on the primary statistics page . Representatives Engineering Payments Road budgets Crash coverage Weather Surfaces and works Exposure comparisons Method and limits People killed ÷ fixed 2022 population ÷ 6 years × 100,000. Populations are fixed Census 2022 references. Counts concern collision locations, not resident addresses; the result is not a rate per journey or vehicle-kilometre. Current 2024 reference boundaries are applied retrospectively. The series is provisional and subject to revision. The figures do not establish why crashes happened or measure road-maintenance spending. Return home · Open the broader road-deaths map and record Sources RSA SourceData — Map of Collisions source data — Fatal-collision source records, 2018–2023; mapped locations assigned to current reference districts. CSO ROA15 — Persons Killed and Injured — State and county people-killed totals, 2018–2023; provisional/revisable series. CSO ROA12 — All road users — Independent national cross-check of people-killed totals, 2018–2023. CSO Census 2022 Table 8.1 background notes — State and county 2022 population background. CSO FY108 — official statutory LEA population CSV — 2022 population basis and statutory LEA/district mapping. Tipperary County Council Adopted Budget 2024, Table 7 (PDF) — Five municipal-district populations labelled as based on Census 2022; physical page 20. Tailte Éireann 2024 statutory boundary dataset service — Checked 2024 Tailte Éireann statutory municipal-district boundary dataset service; current reference boundaries applied retrospectively. Irish Statute Book S.I. 631/2018 — Optional Boyle municipal-district/LEA mapping context. Download the five-district CSV · Download the 26-county CSV · Download the public JSON snapshot Factual record. No finding of causation or responsibility is made here.

Contact the family

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Explore the record

Road Death Tipp95 people killed on the roads of County Tipperary, 2016 to 2025 inclusive. Working annual total, not a count of points on the map. Partial map coverage. No ages shown. Cahir–Cashel road statisticsCahir–Cashel: 3.03× the national road-death rate. Open the sourced district statistics and council notes.