THERE was a major development in the long-running Macroom-Ballyvourney by-pass saga last Thursday when a Kerry County Council delegation was informed that a €14 million would shortly be spent on preparatory work.
The problem is nobody seems to have informed Cork County Council of the progress, despite the fact that that authority is a major stakeholder in the project and the not insignificant detail that new bypass will be located in Cork.
The Kerry delegation travelled to Dublin to be briefed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland on the matter and, shortly afterwards, Mayor Michael D O’Shea, told KillarneyToday.com: “There will be progress on the 22km scheme very shortly and the delegation was very pleased with the commitments received in this regard.”
Joining Mayor O’Shea on the delegation were Mayor of Killarney, Cllr Brendan Cronin, Kerry Council Chief Executive Moira Murrell, Director of Operations Charlie O’Sullivan and Cllrs Patrick Connor-Scarteen, Johnny Healy-Rae and Mike Kennelly.
But officials in Cork are understood to be baffled and not amused that they hadn’t been invited to the meeting and they expressed surprise that Kerry County Council didn’t alert their near neighbours that the meeting was arranged.
Cork County Council had been waiting to take part in a joint delegation to strengthen the case for the early commencement of the bypass.
The Mayor of Kerry added: “The delegation was arranged to impress upon TII the urgent necessity for the provision of this project which is of enormous importance to Kerry from a tourism, business and economic development point of view.
Chronic traffic congestion in Macroom town and an appalling stretch of roadway from there to Lissarda has been causing chaos for motorists for years and it adds significantly to the journey time between Kerry and Cork.
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