By Sean Moriarty

Kerry County Council will take measures to ensure that communities will not be divided after the construction of the new road between Killarney and Farranfore.

A public consultation on four route proposals ended two weeks ago.

However, many local resident groups in the Ballydunlea, Ballyhar, Deerpark and Tiernaboul areas raised concerns that any one of the proposed routes risked dividing families and communities.

Spa GAA Club were worried that the new road would reduce access to its playing pitches.

At Wednesday’s Killarney Municipal District meeting Cllr Brendan Cronin called on Kerry County Council to maintain direct access to families, landowners and communities that may be effected by the final chosen route.

The Farranfore to Killarney Project is currently at Route Options stage.

“The matter of community and farm severance is being carefully considered before selecting the Emerging Preferred Corridor,” a Council engineer said.

“Throughout the design stage of the project, a junction strategy will be devised which minimises community severance. In many instances, new bridges will be required to maintain local road connectivity after the project is opened. Mitigation measures will also be identified to further reduce the impact on farms affected by the new road.”