Danny Healy-Rae demands urgent repairs for Kerry roads and sewers
Danny Healy-Rae addressed the minister on urgent infrastructure failures in Kerry, calling for prioritised funding for roads, bridges, sewerage treatment and water supply. He identified dangerous stretches of the N72 and Ring of Kerry, and demanded separate bridge funding plus progress on long-delayed sewerage schemes and water connections.
Road safety concerns
The N72 leaving Killarney and sections around the Ring of Kerry - from Valley Downey to the Golden Nugget and from the Gap Cross to Grinne (the Killarley project) - were described as in a desperate state. He said the stretch from the Nugget to the Gap Cross was narrowed after works and is now unsafe for two vehicles to pass. He also raised the eastern Ring sections from Blackwater Bridge to Tahereh and from Patna City to Sneem, warning they are not safe for rigid lorries, Artic lorries and buses.
Bridge funding delays
He asked the minister for separate funding for bridges across local, regional, secondary and national primary roads, saying repairs can take two to three years. He noted many structures date from the 1880s and need faster attention.
Sewerage treatment backlogs
Danny Healy-Rae called for real funding for local improvement schemes in Kerry, noting there are still over 600 roads on the list awaiting attention. He listed communities without treatment plants including East Garen, Castle Island (seeking an extension since 1986), Scott Edlin, Corrie and Beaufort, and asked the minister to locate and revisit the previous priority list held by Kerry County Council and Irish Water.
Housing stalled by water supply
He warned that 170 houses are waiting to start because of water supply issues and that no private estate has been built there for 20 years. He said water is available nearby yet not reaching the pipes and urged the minister to resolve connections so housing development can proceed.
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I'm glad to get the opportunity to ask the Minister to prioritise a number of things in Kerry. The N72 that leaves Killarney, take around the Ring of Kerry, from Valley Downey to the Golden Nugget, and from the Gap Cross to Grinne, which is otherwise known as the Killarley project, these two sections of road are in a desperate state. And the road from the Nugget to the Gap Cross has been completed, but a fortune of money has been spent, but we're actually in a worse scenario now than we were because they actually narrowed the road and it's not safe for two vehicles of any kind to pass each other. The road from Blackwater Bridge to Tahereh and from Patna City to Sneem, also on the eastern side of the Ring of Kerry, and this section of road is in a desperate state and not safe for rigid lorries, Arctic lorries and buses to pass each other safely. I'm asking you to look at that again. Once again, I've been raised every year since I came up here. Minister, I'm asking you for separate funding for bridges. Whether it is in the local roads or whether it is in the regional roads and even secondary roads and national primary roads, we have to wait far too long, two and three years, for these bridges to be repaired, bridges that were built in the 1880s. I'm asking you for real funding for the local improvement schemes in Kerry this year because there's still over 600 of these roads on the list without being attended to. East Garen, all over Kerry, we have settlements that either have no sewerage treatment plant or are looking for extinctions. And when I talk about extinctions, Castle Island has been looking for an extension for the sewerage scheme there since 1986, imagine. I found it above in my father's shed a number of years ago where he was at at that time. Scott Edlin doesn't have any treatment plant. Corrie doesn't have any treatment plant. Beaufort doesn't have any treatment plant. My van who can't build another house, I could go on and on, Minister. But when Kerry County Council was operating the sewerage treatment services and Irish Water, they had a list and there was a priority list. And Minister, I don't know what to really know, but I'm asking you to find that priority list and go back in it and go through because these people were promised almost 20 years ago that their treatment plant was to be brought forward. And then the last thing, there's 170 houses waiting to start thinking, Mayor, we haven't had a private estate built there for 20 years. And what we're waiting for now is water. And like I said the other day here inside, we water down out of the sky every day. We're surrounded by lakes up on the hill, but there's no water going into the pipe. I'm asking you once again to deal with this because if the 170 houses aren't built and that water is the cause of it, I'm clearing out with myself the whole lot of it because this is going on for long enough. I know. I know. I know.
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