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EXCLUSIVE

By Sean Moriarty

The never ending debate on the pedestrianisation of Plunkett St continues as, once again, it was up for discussion at a Killarney Municipal District meeting.

The future of the street is one of the Council’s most divisive issues in recent years.

Since April 2018, following an extensive Council consultation, Plunkett St is closed to vehicular traffic from 7pm to 7am every day.

There have been several calls to reverse the decision – a motion put forward by Cllr Niall ‘Botty’ O’Callaghan was defeated last September, but it seems the issue which has divided the Council for years, just will not go away.

At Wednesday’s Killarney Municipal Meeting, Cllr Donal Grady tabled a similar motion to O’Callaghan’s September motion.

Grady’s plan is further complicated by the current ‘Safe Streets’ initiative which is in place to encourage social distancing in the town centre as Killarney comes back to life after the national shutdown.

As a result of this plan, Plunkett St is closed to traffic 24 hours a day until September 2.

It was agreed at Wednesday’s meeting to defer Grady’s motion until the Council’s next meeting which will take place on either September 9 and 10 after Mayor Brendan Cronin proposed its postponement.

“The mayor’s proposal is sound. It is not just a simple matter of a vote,” Padraig Corkery, Kerry County Council’s Corporate Affairs Executive, told the meeting. “A public consultation would have to be undertaken again too. Cllr Grady will have to resubmit his motion in time for the September meeting.”

Regardless, the row rumbles on and it looks like it will do so for a very long time.