North Kerry councillors have blasted the decision not to allocate funding to improve the main road connecting Listowel with Limerick.
A number of councillors spoke about the condition of the N69 at Cahirdown just outside Listowel coming from the Tarbert side, at a recent meeting.
Senior Engineer at Kerry County Council, Paul Curry, said the local authority is still engaging with Transport Infrastructure Ireland to try and secure funding for that section of road.
In February, Transport Infrastructure Ireland allocated over €65 million in funding for roads in Kerry; this included over €33 million for national roads and over €31 million for regional roads.
The allocation did not include any funding for improvements to the N69 at Cahirdown, which is the section of road coming in to Listowel from the Tarbert side.
At the recent Listowel Municipal District meeting, Fianna Fáil councillor Jimmy Moloney said the elected councillors had been told at a previous meeting the stretch of road at Cahirdown had been prioritised by Kerry County Council.
He said all that was sought was €300,000, which is 1% of the funding allocated for the entire county, and it was hugely disappointing not to get it.
Cllr Moloney said with no funding allocated this year, getting through one of the largest urban centres next to the Ryder Cup next year will be like driving through a golf course.
He said the last time he contacted TII about an issue, he didn’t receive a reply for ten weeks.
Several other councillors expressed their disappointment and frustration that the N69 did not receive funding last month.
Senior engineer with Kerry County Council, Paul Curry, said the council was very disappointed the N69 didn’t feature on TII’s list for funding allocations.
He said the council had met with TII already and another meeting was scheduled, where Kerry County Council representatives made a strong argument to reconsider its decision on this part of the N69.
Mr Curry said TII’s pavement inspector is doing the rounds in Kerry and will be visiting that location at Cahirdown to see the state of the road.
He said that just because funding wasn’t allocated yet, does not mean they’ll have to wait until next year; he said the council will continue to encourage TII to allocate funding for this road.
