Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter.

Last Thursday at 11.30 a.m. Ballinagar Bridge, Lixnaw, County Kerry, snapped in the centre and collapsed when a truck weighing 43 tonnes attempted to cross it. The bridge had a carrying capacity of 12 tonnes which was clearly indicated on two signs on the approach roads. The bridge was used extensively by local commuters between Lixnaw and Ballyduff and during the summer by numerous visitors visiting Ratoo round tower and Ratoo Abbey on the Ballyduff side of the River Brick. A number of farmers with land on both sides of the River Brick are now seriously inconvenienced because of the bridge's collapse. They will have to make a ten-mile round trip to access their lands. This will result in further inconvenience and expense next summer when they are cutting silage. In addition, around 100 bog plot holders will be seriously inconvenienced, most of whom come from the Ballyduff side of the river, and who will now have to transport their turf over a distance of ten miles.

The bridge was built by the Army in 1993 and has been the subject of an ongoing saga for some time. I raised this issue on the Adjournment in July 1993 when I stated:

The saga of Ballinaghar Bridge has been going on for some time. In January 1955 a resolution was passed by Kerry County Council that plans be prepared for a new bridge at Ballinaghar. On 6 July 1970 a preliminary report was received and the estimated cost of providing a new bridge then was £62,500, which was considered too expensive. In May 1975 Kerry County Council agreed to finalise plans for a new bridge. The consultant engineer was instructed to proceed with the preparation of a full set of documents. On 23 February 1977 the county secretary was instructed to submit documents to the Department of the Environment for sanction. In February 1978 an estimate of £202,000 was submitted for the all-in cost of a new bridge. On 22 February the Department of the Environment replied to Kerry County Council stating that even though the existing bridge was in an extremely dangerous condition the road was not of sufficient importance to warrant the provision of a new bridge. The suggestion was then made to provide the bailey bridge at the cost of about €32,000. In March 1980 an application was made to the Department for a loan of £190,000, but it was rejected. Kerry County Council threatened to close the bridge in 1992. The bridge was at that stage in extremely poor structural condition. It was erected in four 25 foot spans and was supported by five pairs of tubular steel piles driven into the river bed and filled with concrete. The quality of the concrete in the deck was extremely poor and the steel troughing on which it sits was in very poor condition.

Following that debate on the Adjournment, an allocation was made to provide a bailey bridge. Kerry County Council had about 60 feet of the bailey bridge in stock and had used it for other purposes. The council got the remainder from the Army, which provided the bridge at a cost of about £100,000. There was a limit imposed of 12 tonnes, but over time heavier traffic began to cross the bridge and it was in poor condition. Last week, a 43-tonne truck tried to cross it and it just snapped and collapsed.

I ask the Minister of State to make a special case for this bridge. Two bridges have been provided over the River Feale in recent years, one at the Cashen and the other at Finuge, while a further bridge has been provided going into Abbeyfeale. This is a very important local bridge. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will visit Tralee on Friday. He will be doing many things around the constituency. I call on the Minister of State to ask him to visit the Ballinagar Bridge so that he can see for himself what happened and so that he might recognise the strategic importance of the bridge for the people of Lixnaw, Ballyduff and the greater north Kerry community. As a Deputy from a neighbouring constituency, I appeal to the Minister of State to do everything in his power to ensure the Minister visits Ballinagar next Friday when he visits Kerry.

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