Fury as Minister axes £2m Blennerville bridge
December 1991
ENVIRONMENT Minister Dr Rory O’Hanlon has abandoned plans to build a new £2 million bridge at Blennerville, it was confirmed this week.
The proposed new bridge, which would cater for all the main traffic going through to West Kerry, has already cost Kerry County Council £200,000 in preliminary studies and architects’ reports, but now Dr O’Hanlon insists that strengthening works on the bridge is the most realistic option.
However, North Kerry Fianna Fail Deputy Tom McEllistrim told The Kerryman that he regarded this as a “very bad decision” by the Minister. And he added that he intended to raise the matter immediately with Dr O’Hanlon.
“This comes as a huge surprise to me. There is no way it is worth strengthening that bridge because it is so narrow. This was a very bad decision by the Department and I intend to try to change it,” he told The Kerryman.
Deputy McEllistrim said that the bridge as it stood was completely inadequate to cope with the traffic passing through to West Kerry. He said he understood that negotiations were continuing with landowners in Blennerville with a view to constructing a new road and bridge at the back of the village. However, he added that more funding may be made available to this country for road projects such as this within the next few years as part of the Maastricht Treaty and this may be what prompted the Minister’s decision.
North Kerry Fine Gael Depuy Jimmy Deenihan described the decision as “completely illogical”.
“There is no way that a restrengthening would be sufficient. That bridge has been totally inadequate for some time and it is obviously a bottleneck,” he said.
He said he could not understand how the plan was suddenly abandoned just as it was about to go ahead, particularly in view of the fact that Kerry County Council had spent so much money on the plans for the new bridge in the past five years.
Labour leader Dick Spring said the Minister’s decision was “ludicrous” and added that the Government should review it immediately. He said it seemed ridiculous not to proceed with the new bridge when the land acquisition in Blennerville village was taking place.
Environment Minister Dr Rory O’Hanlon told the Dail this week that the question of funding the strengthening works on Blennerville Bridge would be considered when the 1992 road grant allocations were being determined and that thet are hopeful that an agreement would be reached.