Stephen Kelly speaks of losing father on A5 saying road redevelopment is ‘very personal’

The industry lobbyist spoke of the tragedy during a briefing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement last week.

"It is a very personal road for me, because I lost my father on that road,” he said. “He was one of dozens of people who were killed because of the state of the road.

"It is a very personal road for our family. It is not just a professional interest that I have in it. The upgrade of the road is long overdue.”

Mr. Kelly asked: “What price do you put on a life?”

"I know the pain and hurt that was caused when my father was lost on that road, and that has happened dozens of times. It continues to happen to this day. That is the real cost. It is not the cost of the tarmac, the central reservation or whatever else; it is the cost of people's lives that needs to be borne in mind.”

During the briefing Fianna Fáil Senator Niall Blaney suggested the completion of the A5 would boost the manufacturing sector along the Derry to Aughnacloy axis.

He pointed to the high concentration of manufacturing in mid-Ulster and said the improved A4 between Dungannon and Ballygawley and the M1 from Belfast to Dungannon are likely to have catalysed this.

“I have stated at different times that 40 per cent of exports come from manufacturing in mid-Ulster. It is funny that there has been a shift from Belfast to mid-Ulster. What are the reasons for that?

"I wonder if the motorway network and the development of the A4 has something to do with that. East Tyrone has developed well whereas west Tyrone has not, and the A5 is still an outlier.

"The whole west of NI has not really developed and the infrastructure has not developed either,” said Senator Blaney.

He asked Mr. Kelly if the infrastructural deficit was a ‘major contributing factor’.

Mr. Kelly said Senator Blaney was correct. The west has been held back due to infrastructural deficits.

"I live in Derry city. As someone who has travelled the road from Belfast for 19 years now, I can tell members how difficult an experience it was until the new section of the A6 opened between Dungiven and Drumahoe, as was mentioned.

"That one section has been transformative in terms of the attitude towards the north west,” he stated.

In May Mr. Kelly brought a group of manufacturing leaders to Derry for a summit four weeks after the new A6 opened.

"There were many manufacturing leaders and others who had not been to Derry in a long time, despite the fact they were only an hour away. They had the experience of going there and driving on that road. The city was looking beautiful, as usual. It was quite a tropical day.

"The weather was fantastic. The city was looking great, but their journey to the city was really smooth and straightforward,” he said, saying the completion of last section of the A6 from Drumahoe was ‘absolutely critical’.

A5 improvements underway while start date for multi-million pound WTC awaited