Capping gone. The Council's inspection recorded it, 93 days before Bronagh died.
21 January 2025: Tipperary County Council's engineering inspection rated Killardry Bridge "Significant Damage", capping "partly removed", signage "No". Bronagh died at the bridge on 24 April 2025.
Council engineering inspection, 21 January 2025 · Family photograph
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The grass verge, grown level with the lowered wall.
The family's view: where the verge has grown level with the lowered wall, it forms a ramp onto it. The record does not establish who formed the verge, or when.
Family photograph, February 2026
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The drainage pipe at the bank.
The Council's review says the only drainage work on this road was cleaning the verge inlets. The family's timeline puts this pipe about ten days before the collision; its view: it cannot drain the road.
Family photograph, 1 May 2025 · Council internal-review decision, 18 February 2026
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Clay and stones from the open bank, on the tarmac.
Photographed 1 May 2025, a week after Bronagh died. The bank was left open; wet material from it is sitting on the road surface where cars pass.
Family photograph, 1 May 2025
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An open channel beside the bend.
An open channel along the roadside at the bend, photographed 1 May 2025. The family's view: it was left open with no barrier or warning sign. The photograph does not show when it was dug.
Family photograph, 1 May 2025
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The long open bank on the approach, the night it rained.
24 April 2025: Toureen's rainfall day recorded 21.5 mm (including hours after the collision). The family's view: this open earth bank, on the right driving to the bridge, destroys the road beside it in rain.
Met Éireann, Toureen, rainfall day 24 April 2025 · Family photograph
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Facing the bridge: the approach meets it at 90 degrees.
The Council's 2014 inspection records the approach skew at 90 degrees and a 4.8-metre carriageway; its January 2025 bridge inspection recorded signage "No". The turn she had to make is ahead.
Eirspan principal inspection, 4 March 2014 · Council engineering inspection, 21 January 2025 · Family photograph
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Imagine this road at night, in heavy rain.
The family's view: in the dark and heavy rain there were no warning signs, clay and stones on the road, and a broken bridge wall. Unmanaged Council roadworks made a dangerous road far worse.
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Councillor Máirín McGrath seconded the motion against a universal 60 km/h limit.
14 October 2024: Motion 2861 asked that the new 60 km/h rural default "not be universal across this County, but apply only in areas deemed necessary by this Council". Council engineers found no road they could recommend to stay at 80 km/h.
Full Council minutes, 14 October 2024, pp. 12–15
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James Swords is the Council's District Engineer for this district.
The family asks him and the Council: who managed the roadworks at Killardry, who received the January 2025 inspection, and why were there no warning signs?
District Engineer: Cahir–Cashel Municipal District minutes, 26 May 2025 and 25 May 2026
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The record is kept here.
Each photograph and document on these sites carries its source. Factual record. No finding of causation or responsibility is made here.
The bridge’s condition is recorded in the council’s own inspections. The record moves from “Warning” to “Significant Damage” in seven months.
20 June 2024 — overall rating “Warning.” Parapets rated “Good”; abutments/piers and vegetation “Warning”; no comments recorded, no work follows. 21 January 2025 — “Significant Damage.” Capping of the downstream wall partly removed; four areas of missing stonework upstream, two downstream. 7 February 2025 — speed limit cut from 80 to 60 km/h. 24 April 2025 — Bronagh English died at the bridge. Ninety-three days passed between the “Significant Damage” rating and her death, with the defect unrepaired.
The council does not inspect its bridges informally. It uses the Department of Transport’s Bridge Asset Management System for Regional and Local Roads (2019). The same report records “Is Signage Present? No.”