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By Sean Moriarty

The Killarney Safe Streets programme cost a staggering €149,478.76 to put in place - new figures seen by the Killarney Advertiser can reveal.

Kerry County Council spent a total of €238,324.10 on the Safe Streets project across its five municipal districts. However, all of this money came from National Transport Authority grants and was not taken from the Council’s annual budget.

The average cost between the other four districts of Kenmare, Castleisland/Corca Dhuibhne, Listowel and Tralee was a modest €22,211 per region but the Killarney project cost in excess of €125,000 more than any other municipal district in the county.

Rolled out in July, the Safe Streets plan was designed to allow social distancing on the county’s streets and to allow businesses reopen after months of pandemic related closures.

The Killarney project included the widening of several town centre footpaths, at an estimated cost of 50 parking spaces and the full-time pedestrianisation of Plunkett St and a portion of Kenmare Place.

Although elected in the Castleisland/Corca Dhuibhne Area Municipal District Cllr Jackie Healy-Rae questioned the level of spending in Killarney at Wednesday’s Kerry County Council meeting.

“I am not knocking the merits of the plan and its merits is to keep people safe,” he told the Killarney Advertiser. “But if the works in Killarney are temporary why is everything so permanent compared to other towns. If the changes are temporary it will mean bringing in a machine ripping up the footpaths and that seems like an awful waste of money.”

A Council spokesperson told the meeting:
“The Town Centre Mobility Plans for Kerry were implemented as emergency measures in response to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and have taken into account the need to maintain social distancing and other controls while businesses reopened in towns across the county.”

Three questions for Kerry County Council:

KA: Why did Killarney cost significantly more than other towns?

KCC: “The National Transport Authority has provided grant assistance to Kerry County Council in implementing these mobility plans which covers the full cost of expenditure incurred to date. A total of €238,324 has been expended throughout the county on mobility plans to date as discussed at the meeting of Kerry County Council on Wednesday. Those costs vary across the Municipal Districts and the county’s towns based on numerous factors which were assessed during the process, for example, footfall, width of existing footpaths and streetscapes etc.”

KA: Based on the logic of Safe Streets, are you more likely to contract COVID-19 in Killarney than any other town? Or, on the same logic, why was Killarney offered better protection than other towns?

KCC: “This is not a question of different protection for different towns – every town and village in Kerry has different requirements which were assessed during the implementation of safety measures.”

KA: If this is only a temporary measure, how much is it going to cost to reinstate the streets to their former condition?

KCC: “The Mobility Plans will be kept under review and it may be necessary to expand or extend these plans as society continues to deal with the pandemic over the coming months.”