Danny Healy-Rae: Urgent call for Killarney bypass and funding
Danny Healy-Rae spoke in the Dáil about infrastructure, planning and services in County Kerry, urging the government to deliver on the new programme for government and to prioritise a Killarney bypass, road repairs, bridges, hospitals and support for farmers. He argued that Kerry has been left behind, described traffic and planning problems, and called for increased funding and faster delivery on local schemes.
Danny Healy-Rae said Killarney urgently needs a bypass but also immediate interim measures to free up daily traffic that is harming tourism and town businesses. He warned that current traffic patterns are causing people to avoid the town, which is detrimental to tourist providers and local traders.
He highlighted the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), saying there are over 660 projects but only 24 completed a year. He called for the annual rate to increase to at least 100 so the road works could be completed in six to seven years.
He pointed to specific projects, saying the Blackwater Bridge to Snee scheme was ready to start last January but never began because it received no funding. He noted many bridges around the Ring of Kerry, including Lestroy and Boston Bridge, were built over 200 years ago and were only designed for horses and cars.
He demanded properly staffed hospitals and immediate action to open a new community hospital in Killarney. He framed health services as a priority that must be addressed alongside transport and roads.
He urged a shift in how farmers are treated, saying they must be valued and encouraged so sons and daughters will consider farming. He also criticised planning restrictions and urban-generated pressure that prevent people building homes on their own land and cited wastewater treatment limits that stop even a single house being built in some towns and villages.
Infrastructure needs
Danny Healy-Rae said Killarney urgently needs a bypass but also immediate interim measures to free up daily traffic that is harming tourism and town businesses. He warned that current traffic patterns are causing people to avoid the town, which is detrimental to tourist providers and local traders.
Road maintenance and LIS scheme
He highlighted the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), saying there are over 660 projects but only 24 completed a year. He called for the annual rate to increase to at least 100 so the road works could be completed in six to seven years.
Bridges and funding delays
He pointed to specific projects, saying the Blackwater Bridge to Snee scheme was ready to start last January but never began because it received no funding. He noted many bridges around the Ring of Kerry, including Lestroy and Boston Bridge, were built over 200 years ago and were only designed for horses and cars.
Healthcare and community services
He demanded properly staffed hospitals and immediate action to open a new community hospital in Killarney. He framed health services as a priority that must be addressed alongside transport and roads.
Farming and planning restrictions
He urged a shift in how farmers are treated, saying they must be valued and encouraged so sons and daughters will consider farming. He also criticised planning restrictions and urban-generated pressure that prevent people building homes on their own land and cited wastewater treatment limits that stop even a single house being built in some towns and villages.
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Transcript
Thank you very much, Count Corley. I hope that this new programme for government delivers for County Kerry, because Kerry definitely has been left behind for a lot of years now. Even Killarney is in a desperate state. It needs a bypass, first of all. But in the meantime, in the short term, because daily traffic is going into Killarney from every side, meaning that people are now avoided, and that's detrimental to tourist providers, to business in the town. And we need to do something in the interim to ensure that the traffic is freed up in Killarney. All the roads, the LIS scheme, we have over 660 in the least, and we're doing 24 a year. We need to up that by four times the month, at least 100, so that the roads could be done in six or seven years. Blackwater Bridge to Snee was left behind last year again, because Eamon Ryan, it was already ready to start last January. It never started, because it got no funding. Bridges like Lestroy, Boston Bridge, all the bridges around the Ring of Kerry, they were built over 200 years ago, ministers. They were only built for horses and cars. Hospitals, we need them properly, staffed, and we need a new community hospital in Killarney to be opened right away. We need to value farmers and not blaming them. And we need to do something to encourage farmers, sons, or daughters to get into the farming, because they're not doing it presently, they're going to avoid it. Planning, so many people would build their own houses in Kerry if they could get planning permission, but they can't. Even on their own land, if it isn't a farm, they won't get planning permission inside their mothers and fathers. Thank you. And this thing, planning, strict urban-generated pressure, that's the cause of it. I want you to see, after all treatment plans, every one of them are not capable of, we can't build even one house in some of our towns and villages. I move back to the government. Thank you very much, Councilor. I'm going to start with Minister Helle Mack. Thank you.