FRUSTRATED residents of housing estates located to the rear of McDonald’s Restaurant in Killarney feel like prisoners in their own homes because of the congestion caused by long queues of vehicles availing of the dine in and drive-thru facility.
That was the complaint made to Cllr John O’Donoghue who said numerous residents have been in touch with him to voice concern about the situation.
The regular traffic jams are forcing residents to drive on the wrong side of the road to try to gain access to their properties are they are putting themselves, their families and other road users at risk, he pointed out.
“People have to take a gamble and shoot across the road. It’s great to see that McDonald’s is busy but we must take a very strong line with them on this,” Cllr O’Donoghue said.
The matter was raised by Mayor of Killarney, Cllr Marie Moloney, who said the congestion at the junction leading to McDonald’s and the new cinema is terribly dangerous.
The problem is being compounded by vehicles that are parking on the footpaths on both sides of the entrance road.
“There is traffic queuing for McDonald’s which necessitates traffic entering the road leading to the residential estates having to overtake the queue on the other side of the road,” she said.
Cllr Moloney said there are six estates located there with another under construction and, as well as queuing, drivers are parking on the footpaths and on double yellow lines.
Commenting on the situation, Cllr Donal Grady remarked: “People can’t get into their own homes. It’s a complete disgrace”.
Kerry County Council has been asked to make representations to the McDonald’s franchise owners to take a corner of the property to create a filter lane for traffic entering the restaurant car park or drive-thru or to create a clearway to prevent parking.
Council officials said driver behaviour needs to improve and the gardai will be consulted on the matter, particularly if there are ling lines of traffic on the road.
