Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to get this opportunity to raise the matter of the proposed Macroom-Ballyvourney bypass which will run from the west of Ballyvourney to Coolcower in the east of Macroom bypassing Ballyvourney, Coolavokig and all those treacherous bends and beyond Macroom town where people are delayed in traffic for 30, 40 or 45 minutes. This project is of paramount strategic importance to all the people of Kerry, all those who travel to Cork and back every day for work and the many hundreds of people from Kerry who have to travel to consultants and doctors in Cork University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital and South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital. For people who have to go for radiotherapy to survive and for a chance to live their full lives, this is the only avenue they have to go to get that treatment. This is the place they have to go. People have to travel as far away as Cahirciveen, Dingle and Fenit and are held up for 30 to 45 minutes going through Macroom.

As the Minister will be aware, we are surrounded to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and the N22 route, to Cork city and to the motorway to Dublin, is a heavily trafficked route. Kerry County Council has come as far as it can to the top of the county bounds. Surely it cannot be asked to come further over into the heart of the county of Cork to make a road into Cork city to which it is very much entitled. The lack of this basic infrastructure is denying Kerry employment opportunities and is prohibiting any investment coming into our county. I understand it was one of the key reasons the Kerry Group set up its global technology innovation centre in County Kildare and cost Kerry up to 900 jobs, which, had it set up in Farranfore as was expected, would have been a massive boost to our county.

This project has been sought for more than 30 years and has been firmly on the agenda for the past 20 years. However, it has been held up by environmentalists and others who thought up ridiculous reasons, such as snails and other species. To rub salt into our wounds, they described them as the Kerry snail. Did they put a Kerry jersey on him or how did they decide he was a Kerry snail? There was plenty of money around ten years ago but these people held up this project for those unreasonable reasons.

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