Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Kilcornan is a small village located on the N69, a national secondary route, in rural County Limerick. The N69 is a coastal road which runs from Limerick to Tralee via Foynes. The issue concerns traffi-calming measures that are proposed for the route. Concerns relating to those measures were originally raised by the community on 8 September 2015. This road has been a danger point for many years and that fact has been brought to the attention of successive Ministers. I proposed that speed-limit measures be extended in 2004, which seems like a lifetime ago. However, my suggestion has been constantly refused, first by the National Roads Authority, the NRA, and then by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII.

Kilcornan stretches from the church to the community centre for about a mile and a half on the N69. The fact that it is located along this expanse of the road is the biggest challenge. The focal point of the proposal relates to the community hub, which comprises the school, the GAA pitch and the Ger McDonnell Park AstroTurf pitch. All of these are accessed by people from neighbouring villages and towns - such as Kildimo, Pallaskenry and Adare - with which Kilcornan has joined up to form an under-age soccer team. There is, as a result, a glut of traffic coming onto the road, particularly between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. On the Askeaton side, there is a blind bend and people take their lives into their hands when they come out onto the road. There is no hard shoulder and no space for cars to move from one side to another. Neither is there any room to put traffic islands in place.

A meeting took place on 8 September 2015 and proposals have been submitted to TII. There has been correspondence between the council and the TII on a proposal that has been shown to the community. Every time it goes back to TII, however, further design measures and updates are sought. The community is becoming frustrated as to what will be the outcome. I was a local councillor in September 2015 and we were unanimous in wanting to see traffic-calming measures put in place in Kilcornan. However, the communication back and forth between TII and Limerick City and County Council suggests that the can is being kicked down the road. Can the Minister give us a timeline for when this project will be completed, what funding is required and from where that funding might come?

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