NTA says it has no records of applications made for funding. Housing estate beside the school has been in place for 20 years without a footpath.A Freedom of Information request has found there are no records of Mayo County Council seeking funding for a footpath or cycle route to a new school at the edge of Ballina.Culleens National School, based on the Killala Road in the town, made national news twice in recent years as schoolchildren have protested over the lack of a safe route to their new school after it was moved across the busy and high-speed main road.Mayo County Council has still not progressed any plan to provide safe walking and cycling provision, even two years after the opening of the new Culleens National School building, which replaces an older building and prefabs on the other side of the road. The school told RTE that the number of children travelling to school by car had increased since the move across the road, and those travelling by foot and by bike had decreased.School run times can be chaotic on the Killala Road with a high volume of traffic at the junction into the school, including parents making drop-offs by car, school buses going to Culleens and other schools, as well as general traffic going elsewhere, a mix of commuters in cars, trucks, and other vehicles.The commuter traffic mostly approaches the junction from the rural side, often at higher speeds, while the school run traffic is mainly from the urban area. In between all of this, a small number of parents and children can sometimes be seen trying to dash across the road on foot.IMAGE: At times of the year, the area is often prone to fog around the time of the school run in the mornings, as pictured. The schools relocation has been long-planned, with formal plans submitted to the council 7 years ago, and the council approving the new school in 2018. It is also over 20 years since a housing estate beside the school, Oaklawn, was approved by Mayo County Council. A small business park, which was only partly built, was also approved by the council. There is a footpath on the opposite side of the road, where the old school and an even larger housing estate were built, but even as traffic has increased over the years, no safe crossing of the high-speed road has been provided.People used to walk in a rough area along the side of the road, but the council filled this in with bushes, trees, and grass in 2013 a decade after Oaklawn was given planning approval and built. It is understood that the purpose of the greening of the side of the road was to obscure the half-built business park. IMAGE: The end of the footpath and the rough area at the side of the road in 2011.IMAGE: People walking closer to traffic in 2013 after the green area was installed without a footpath.Local councillors and TDs have been reported to be in favour of measures to make the route to the school safer for children walking and cycling and for residents of Oaklawn. But they have complained about the lack of progress and the lack of information provided to them. In February of this year, the Western People, a local newspaper, reported that Cllr Marie-Therese Duffy (Fine Gael) brought a notice of motion before that months Ballina Municipal District council meeting seeking a timeline for the installation of the safety measures on the Killala Road between Leigue Cemetery and the entrance road the school.The newspaper reported: In response, area engineer Orla Bourke said that the provision of these measures was subject to funding. She said the location was recently unsuccessful in an application made to the National Transport Authority for funding.To better understand why the funding was rejected, this website submitted a Freedom of Information request to the National Transport Authority (NTA) seeking a copy of the application for any proposed works on Kilala Road in Ballina.No recordsThe NTA said it has no records of such an application made within the last five years. When this website asked for clarity on the request, the FOI decision maker at the NTA said: The request took into account all funding applications submitted for projects on the Killala Road in Ballina. This includes works such as footpaths and cycle lanes, and covers projects at all stages from concept through to completion.IrishCycle.com asked Mayo County Council if it could explain why councillors were told funding was sought from the NTA when the authority has no records of any application in the last five years.A spokesperson for Mayo County Council said: The provision of active travel infrastructure between Ballina and Scoil Naomh Brid at Culleen is proposal two in [the Ballina] Local Transport Plan. Over the last four years, the Active Section Travel [of the council] have sought funding for the delivery of active travel projects in Mayo. Specific Proposals were not listed in funding application. In addition, low-cost safety funding was applied for in this was not successful.Mayo County Council will continue to seek funding from the NTA for the proposals in the Local Transport Plan as this is the most appropriate funding stream available at present, the spokesperson said. The council noted that the school is outside the urban speed limit zone but that following Public Consultation for theLocalTransportPlan,theNTAagreed to include two rural schools in BallinaLocalTransportPlan.Asked what the councils plan is to make the school, housing estate, and business premises accessible to people walking and cycling, a spokesperson added: Mayo County Council will continue to seek funding from the NTA for the proposals in the Local Transport Plan to deliver meaningful active travel infrastructure.The route in the Local Transport Plan is a wider route from the town centre, via Convent Hill, to Killala Road as far as the Culleens National School. Following stakeholder consultation in 2022 and a full public consultation in 2024, the final version of the local transport plan was published in 2025. IMAGE: School warning signs were installed at the junction into the housing estate and the school shortly after the new school was built, but the speed limit on the wide and busy Killala Road remains 80km/h.