The Medieval Goattrack

No Taxation without value !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

In a surprisingly logical step members of the Rathmore to N81 Road Action Group are now refusing to pay their taxs to Kildare County Council. The general feeling in the group is that until KCC does what they raise the taxs for then it is inappropriate to pay them.

Quoted in the "Leinster Leader" newspaper, see full article below, one activist sums up the position:

"... until such time as KCC provides the services I pay them for I do not wish to receive any more demands for money from them....."

The new motto of the group is

"No taxation without value"

Text message campaign

2008-02-02T05:11:00.000-08:00

The campaign to repair "The Medieval Goattrack" has taken a new twist. With some help from friends we have started a text message campaign. This is being trialled at the minute with two different approaches. One campaign is successfully updating our supporters on what is happing and the other lobbying public representatives and officials to remind them of the state of the roads.

Should you wish to receive messages from the campaign please contact Joe at (085) 1391267.

Kildare Co. Co. gets €108m under National Roads Programme for 2008

2008-02-02T05:03:00.001-08:00

We have just been avised that Kildare Co. Co. has been allocated €108 million under the National Roads Programme for 2008. Contacted for comment no one, absolutely no one, not even the offical spokesman, knew if any of this money would be used to fund repairs to the Medieval Goattrack.

Below are some recent pictures of the road, which as we all know came second in the recent national pothole competition. We are left unaware if Kildare Co. Co. will find some spare change from the €108 million to bring the road into this century.

Even more press coverage !!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

The local press have always been supportive of the campaign to bring the road surface of the Medieval Goattrack into this century. Here are copies of more recent press articles from "The Kildare Voice" and "The Leinster Leader". Click on the images below to enlarge and read the articles in full.

National Pothole Competition

2008-01-25T15:33:00.001-08:00

Photos of potholes on the "Medieval Goattrack" road were recently entered into the Newstalk 106 "Worst Pothole in Ireland" competition. In a fitting tribute to the professionalism and efficiency of Kildare Co. Co. the potholes came 2cd in the entire country.

The Rathmore to N81 Road Action Group are anxiously seeking an elected councillor or official of Kildare Co. Co. to accept the wonderful prize of a chocolate teapot, although strangely no one is forthcoming :-)

Latest press articles

2008-01-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

After the recent presentation to the Naas Area Committee of Kildare County Council further newspaper artciles have appeared. Below is the front page article in the Leinster Leader appearing in the edition dated Friday, 18th Januay 2008. Click the image to enlarge and read.

Contacted for comment on this most recent story Mr. Peter O'Neill, Secretary of the Rathmore to N81 Road Action Group stated:

"When will the taxpayers of this country got some decent public services for the taxes we pay. County Council officials sit in their ivory towers with benchmarked salaries and pensions and leave our roads in a disgraceful dangerous state. It is about time they started using our taxes for what we pay them for. A safe road is not an unreasonable demand, we have paid our taxes to the central government and motor tax to the local authority for this; we pay them yet they do nothing. They seem to be masters at inactivity, procrastination, waffle and wasting our money".

Presentation to Kildare County Council Naas Area Committee

2008-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

The group made a Powerpoint presentation to the elected county councilors of Kildare County Council Naas Area Committee at 14:30 on Tuesday, 15th 2008.

Particular emphasis was placed on

1) photos taken during the past year of the potholes and surface of the road
2) the 90 degree turn without a chevron sign or advisory signs.

The presentation was robust and does not seem to have been well received.

You can watch a brief video of the presentation by clicking below

Interview on national radio station Newstalk 106

2008-01-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

On 15th January 2008 this issue made it to national radio. Local resident Joe Bergin was heard live on national radio station Newstalk 106 explaining the problems of this road and what people were doing about it. One particular pothole was entered into Newstalk 106's competition to find the worst pothole in Ireland :-)

You can see the pothole at http://newstalk.ie/newstalk/breakfast-show/recommends.html or listen to the interview as a podcast at http://www.newstalk.ie/newstalk/podcasts/1/the-segmented-breakfast-show.xml .

Local Press

2008-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

The local press has always been supportive of the community's efforts to get this road fixed. Below are a few examples of newspaper articles that have appeared over the past year.

Click on the images to enlarge them and read them.

Postcard Campaign

2008-01-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

Local residents and road users have started a "postcard campaign" to encourage Kildare County Council officials to do something about this very dangerous road. The postcards have photos of particularly bad parts of the road on the front and a message on the back.

The example above is addressed to an official of the Road's Dept with a picture of a stretch of road. The humorous message on the back reads:

"Hi Pat, Rathmore is lovely and the weather is great. Pity about the road. Wish you were here fixing it. Burst another tyree on this road last week. Any plans to visit us and use our taxes to fix our road?"

We expect a lightening quick response from the officials :-)

Petition to improve Rathmore to N81 road

2008-01-15T00:46:00.000-08:00

A petition has been organised and signed by 65 people who live on this road or use it regularly, this includes a representative of every single household on the road.

It simply states "We are concerned about the state of repair of the road between Rathmore and the N81. We would like to ask Kildare County Council to make plans to improve it."

The petition has been sent to the people responsible for the road in Kildare County Council and every County Councillor and TD for Kildare North.

You can see the petition documents below. Click to enlarge and view signatures.

Pictures of the Rathmore to N81 Road in Co. Kildare, Ireland

2008-01-15T00:39:00.000-08:00

The road between the village of Rathmore, Co. Kildare and the N81 is probably the worst in Ireland, nay the world. It has been affectionately referred to as a "medieval goat track".

Since Kildare County Council have some inexplicable aversion to fixing this road we have published these few photos which might embarrass them into action.

If you would like to let Kildare County Council know your feelings about this road please feel free to email them at roads@kildarecoco.ie . We hope you get more of a response out of them than we did :-).

If you have any photos/videos you want to share about this road or other roads in Kildare just add a comment and the publishers will contact you.