Cllr calls for Killorglin improvements

SINN Féin Councillor Damian Quigg will call for major infrastructural upgrades for Killorglin to be included in this year’s local area plan at the next South and West Kerry Municipal District meeting.

Cllr Quigg hopes to see a ring road for the town and a new bridge over the River Laune to combat high traffic levels.

“It is estimated that this overall project would cost somewhere in the region of €40million, with a second Bridge being required to cross the River Laune,” he said. “Freight trucks, large tourist coaches, along with all the local and tourist traffic is all coming to a bottleneck in the town, and it has become dangerous and a total nuisance for drivers, pedestrians and businesses... You wouldn’t see any other National Road in the country being congested like this on a daily basis.”

In conjunction with Kerry County Council and South Kerry Development Partnership, Killorglin Chamber Alliance engaged with a facilitator, later leading to a socio-economic plan for the town with 95 actions. However, Cllr Quigg feels 25 of these would be very difficult to meet without a ring road.

While he understands there are concerns in relation to such a project, he feels other issues such as parking, accessibility, shopping experience, and more are all affected by the town’s current setup.

“I have began the process of setting up a working group locally and I am due to meet the CEO of Kerry County Council in early January to discuss this,” adding he hopes to see a strong deputation meet with the Minister for Transport and TII. “I will also be requesting that a process of public consultation would take place and that we should be moving towards a plan to get the project to design stage.”