Bypass route to be selected

THE long-awaited N22 Killarney Farranfore Road project could finally move forward this year following the news that funding has finally been granted that will allow the final route of the new road to be selected.

Landowners along the four potential routes have been waiting for years to know if their land will be part of the route or not – a delay that has long angered local community and public representatives.

The N22 Killarney Farranfore Road Project which will bypass the town of Farranfore and Killarney and will deliver an improved road between the two towns.

Public representatives have long fought for this vital Kerry infrastructural project to be developed and have strongly criticised the ongoing delays saying that the people of Kerry deserve better.

Kerry County Council has partnered with Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Department of Transport to develop the project which was first mooted in 1995 and began in 2003 and was significantly progressed until it was suspended in 2012 owing to the financial crisis of the time.

In 2019, the Department of Transport gave approval to have the scheme re-opened.

The four potential routes commencing on the Tralee side of Farranfore and linking back on to the Cork road south of Killarney town, were unveiled in May 2021.

More than 350 submissions were lodged in relation to the proposed routes.

Local communities living along the proposed routes have raised concerns about the routes. Landowners in Spa, Lissivigeen, Tiernaboul and Coolcorcoran could be affected as well as Spa GAA club, depending on which of the routes is ultimately chosen.

This week funding of €750,000 has been announced to move the project forward which has been warmly welcomed across the county including by Education Minister Norma Foley.

Minister Foley also paid tribute to the great work of Kerry County Council on the N22 Farranfore to Killarney project which she said led to this funding.

“That work has been acknowledged by the confirmation of the allocation of funding which will allow the progression of work to allow for the designation and selection of a route and the works that will be needed to facilitate that as well,” she said.

Once announced the preferred route will be open to public consultation and the views of the public will be taken into account before the final decision on the route is made.

TD Danny Healy-Rae has also welcomed the funding.