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The proposed Lissivigeen-Farranfore bypass, which was unveiled in 2004 before being shelved in 2011, will be considered for development “in the post-2022 period”, according to Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross.

Minister Ross was responding to a question from Danny Healy-Rae TD, who insisted it was a very important scheme that should be prioritised by the government.

“Progressing it has many merits,” Healy-Rae said. “Killarney is choked by traffic during the summer months, with people trying to get in and out of the town. In a way, that is good as it shows that people want to come to Killarney. However, we need to cater for them. There is congestion on the Muckross Road, with traffic from Kenmare and Glengarriff trying to get through the town. Traffic has to pass through the town to get to Limerick or any other part of the country. There is also traffic from Killorglin and Liebherr, as well as to O'Shea's Funeral Home in the evenings, when workers travel up Dr Hans-Liebherr Road and St Anne's Road. The volume of traffic on the bypass is at the maximum. It is used by 18,600 vehicles per day.”

Minister Ross acknowledged the problem but said the capital plan, as it stands, does not make provision for the Farranfore to Killarney project.

“Four years is too long to wait given the level of traffic congestion in Killarney,” Healy-Rae said.

Improving traffic and infrastructure was one of the main recommendations made by visitors in the Tourist Economic Impact Review, which was published this week (see today's Killarney Advertiser for more).