Aontú's Mary T Sweeney welcomes work at Oldtown Bridge in Letterkenny

Donegal Aontú representative, Mary T. Sweeney has welcomed the start of work at Oldtown Bridge in Letterkenny.

For over two years she has pressed for repairs, and along with concerned locals has held public meetings on the safety of the historic bridge.

The Aontú candidate for Letterkenny in next year’s local council elections said: “I am delighted to see the scaffolding in place and Donegal County Council engineers on site. This work is long awaited and long overdue. Hopefully, the extensive cracking on the stonework on the bridge will be resolved and particularly the arches below which is paramount to the structure of Oldtown Bridge and the safety of pedestrians and traffic.” 

Ms Sweeney added: “Capstones on top were knocked off at least a year ago and no effort had been made to replace them. Also, one arch of this three-arched bridge is totally blocked by debris. This has put additional pressure on the two supporting piers and escalated erosion of the foundations and banks of the River Swilly. 

"I have been alerted multiple times by local residents to the dangerous state and safety of the bridge and fears that extra traffic in this part of the town could exacerbate its eventual collapse. With mounting concerns over varying degrees of deterioration on different elements of Oldtown Bridge hopefully, these problems are now being addressed,” she said