Adare bypass widely welcomed but Greens say it’s a missed opportunity
KERRY’S Green Party General Election candidate Cleo Murphy has blasted proposals for the long-awaited bypass of Macroom, branding it a missed opportunity that ignores public transport passengers.
It follows the announcement last week that Adare is also in line for a bypass, which has been warmly welcomed by Minister of State at the Department of Transport Brendan Griffin.
But Cleo Murphy argues that Government spending of more than €700m on bypass roads could have provided Kerry people with a top-class public transport system to Cork and Limerick.
“Once again, public transport users have been ignored,” she says. “If we had decent bus and rail services to the cities, Macroom and Adare wouldn’t be so snarled up with traffic in the first place. As it stands, the N40 bus to Cork is often full before it even leaves Tralee and people have to wait an hour for the next bus.”
The Green Party has consistently called for the transport budget to be spent in a 2:1 ratio in favour of sustainable transport over roads projects. Ms Murphy said the plans do nothing for rural public transport and that running a car would become more expensive in the future.
She claims that by spending €700m on roads only shows how ‘out of touch’ Fine Gael is with the reality of climate action.
She also criticised the Government’s spending of €150 million on extra carriages for Iarnrod Éireann; most of which, she claims, will be concentrated in the greater Dublin area.
“I’m also concerned that these bypasses could affect the number of bed nights in Killarney. If tourists think they can leave Cork in the morning, take in the Lakes, Dingle or the Ring of Kerry in a day and be in Limerick that evening, we could become part of a whistle-stop tour.”
She concluded: “Improved rail services with better connections to the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle peninsula would bring in the hikers and eco-tourists who travel slowly, stay longer and spend more.”
But Minister Griffin says better road infrastructure will actually enhance public transport as it will be operating on better roads.
The Macroom bypass is expected to cost taxpayers around €280m, with approximately €450m to be spent on the Adare bypass. The Macroom project is one many Kerry commuters want to see implemented to curb traffic congestion on route to Cork. Minister Griffin, a long term campaigner, said the status quo can’t remain as the Cork-Kerry road is completely substandard.
“It’s unsafe and there are huge fatality figures on this road. We can’t ignore that,” he said.
“This is the largest and most important socio-economic project for the southwest region. Public transport will benefit from the project as much as individual commuters will. The Green Buses have been an outstanding success. I would ask the Green Party to consider people who are currently travelling to Cork for work and health treatments where public transport may not be an option. We need to have this type of infrastructure for safety,” he said.