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

It makes common sense to not start the works until the end of November. The men working on the tunnel will be inside the tunnel so the weather will not matter to them.

The other issue is that now that the tunnel is going to be closed at that time, the works that should have been done many years ago to raise the roof from 3.5 m in a few places to 3.8 m. must be done urgently. Deputy Griffin is interrupting me and hurting the people of south Kerry and west Cork while I am speaking to the Tánaiste for the few minutes that I have. That is fine, but if he had told the Tánaiste the story, he would not need to be talking to him now. What I am asking now of the Tánaiste and Minister for Transport is to not start the works until the end of November and most certainly to raise the roof of the tunnel to make it passable for every type of vehicle going from one county to the other. TII must not leave the tunnel in the state it has been in for hundreds of years.

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