Safety enhancement work at a notoriously dangerous junction have yet to progress despite repeated calls from elected councillors and an on-going spate of accidents there.

The latest temporary solution is to paint high visibility yellow lines on the approach roads to Finnegan's Cross in an effort to cut down on the number of accidents at the junction.

At a recent Killarney Municipal District meeting Cllr Brendan Cronin called for “a table top” surface at the junction to slow traffic down while they are waiting for the funding to undertake agreed improvement works.

This proposal was not approved by a Council engineer.

“Finnegan's Cross is located on the junction of two Local Primary Roads in a rural area, which has a speed limit of 80kph. As per the Traffic Management Guidelines published by the Department of Transport and the Design Manual for Urban Street Roads and Streets, it not recommended to provide a table top surface or ramps on roads outside of an urban area with speed limits greater than 50kph,” the engineer said.

However, the engineer confirmed that yellow lines will be installed while the Council awaits funding.

“At the request of the Department of Transport, Kerry County Council submitted a Preliminary Appraisal Report for Finnegan's Cross highlighting the associated issues and accident history. On foot of this, Kerry County Council expect to receive the required funding through the Specific Improvement Grant Allocation in 2023. This funding will be announced in January 2023," he added.

This will be the third year in a row that funding has been allocated to the junction. Unused funds go back in to the pot for the following year.

Cllr. Maura Healy-Rae pushed the Council to apply for emergency funding to carry out the necessary safety improvement works at the same junction.

A Council official replied: “Kerry County Council was successful in obtaining funding via the Low Cost Safety Improvement Works grant allocation in 2022 however, the expected cost of the works exceeded the allocation.”