Kerry County Council have publish a newsletter on the South Kerry Greenway.
The purpose of this newsletter is to update the public and in particular the people of Reenard, Cahersiveen, Kells, Glenbeigh and the surrounding areas of the progress to date on the proposed 32km greenway from Reenard to Glenbeigh. The newsletter outlines the plans for 2016 and summarises the procedures involved in delivering the project.
You can read or download the newsletter here
One of the main complaints of the first phase of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway was the lack of route permeation and linkage with estates it passes, with only one intermediate access point along the whole route, this issue was observed by numerous individuals and groups as part of the planning process.
A prime example of this was at Gort Na Greine where the existing access point was blocked up with industrial palisade fencing despite the fact that at the time of the development this was a well trodden route.
Within a short period of the fencing being installed a few sections were removed and people were able to ‘unofficially’ use the link again , it was a common sight to see people lifting bikes and even children in pushchairs through the gap in the fence.
The ultimate irony here was the fact that the Gort Na Greine road had an existing cyclepath, the white line can be seen runnign down the center of the footpath in the picture above.
It was great to hear that this very issue was raised by Cllr. Pa Daly at the November Tralee Municipal District meeting, and that the fencing will be removed and access restored.
11. Cllr. P. Daly:That this Council will construct an official gateway on to the Fenit Walkway from Gort Na Greine.REPLY:The existing palisade fence and gate will be removed and a new pedestrian access will be provided to facilitate connectivity between the localestates and the WalkwayCllr. P. Daly said that he welcomed this reply
Kerry County Council have finally removed the fencing to allow ‘official’ access onto the greenway from Gort Na Greine and adjoining estates, this is great for linkages along the greenway.
It is surprising that the full fencing was not removed only the part bounding the roadway meaning that pedestrians have to depart the footpath and travel along the roadway, a situation not ideal especially for the elderly, people with pushchairs, and wheelchair users.
We received this mail today from Liam O’Mahony, Liam and the Great Southern Trail group have done trojan work in their efforts to reopen the disused Tralee – Limerick and Tralee – Fenit Railways as a greenway. While the GST have had great success on the Limerick side of the border things could not be more different in Kerry with the entire route save a mile or so in Tralee still lying idle.
On Saturday 7th November to celebrate 25 years of achievement the GST will be holding an ‘Open House’ and a DVD launch followed by a walk from Newcastle West to Ardagh which will be led by the Mayor of Limerick Cllr. Liam Galvin, the same route that the very first organized walk along the old railway took place in May 1990.
Full detail of these events can be found on the GST website.
A personal observation by Liam O’Mahony:
The Taoiseach’s commitment to a national cycle network, made on October 18th 2015 when opening the Mullingar-Athlone Greenway along an old railway, (which can be listened to here) rings hollow in North Kerry where the conversion of the old Rathkeale to Tralee/Fenit railway into a Greenway was first proposed in 1988.That vision had to wait for most of twenty years to be even partially realised due to some trenchant and very influential opposition. Eventually the West Limerick section was opened and only then through the persistent endeavours of the voluntary Great Southern Trail (GST) organisation which I have the honour to chair.The entire Limerick & Kerry GST was included in the Irish Government’s National Cycle Network plan of 2010. It is also included in the Atlantic Coastal Route of the EuroVelo cycle network.
Mr. Kenny’s Government did fund the 3km extension from Abbeyfeale to the Kerry Border in 2012 where it has languished to this day as its continuation appears to be at the whim of a separate local authority. It is patently ridiculous that an international project should be stalled at an administrative boundary several kilometres from the nearest town. Using a county boundary in this manner makes North Kerry seem more impenetrable than North Korea.The County Limerick GST is now 40km in length but the addition of the further 50km of State railway lands lying idle in North Kerry would hugely enhance the GST Greenway experience.
Incidentally, Waterford City & County Council are at present working rapidly in converting 50km of their old Waterford to Dungarvan railway into a Greenway without any difficulty because they were resolute in negotiations with objectors.Kerry County Council say they are inundated with requests for Greenways by local communities but that most of the proposals involve routes that are too short. They conveniently omit to mention that thousands of people are in favour of continuing the GST into North Kerry, which would create the longest Greenway in the country.Why are the Government and the local authority ignoring North Kerry?Ownership of the line is not an issue as CIÉ own a fibre optic cable which runs along its length.Why has Transport & Tourism Minister Pascal Donohoe eschewed a number of opportunities to visit any part of the GST during at least three recent visits to the area?There will be no better time to put these questions to politicians than in the coming months. Government is supposed to involve leadership and vision not capitulation to vested interests.Liam O’Mahony
Cathaoirleach, GST