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You are > Home > Kerry pays a price for no presence in cabinet
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Thursday, June 17, 2010
Kerry pays a price for no presence in cabinet
BY DONAL HICKEY
THE fact that Kerry no longer has a cabinet minister is becoming apparent with every cutback being made by the government.
When Dick Spring and John O’Donoghue were sitting around the cabinet table, money came to Kerry when it was needed. Now, that kind of clout is badly missed and we’re suffering in consequence.
Take one example. Everybody realises the need to tackle pollution in Killarney Lakes and to ensure the lakes are protected for the future.
However, two long-awaited projects – the extension of the public sewer to the Aghadoe, Tralee Road and Lissivigeen areas and a sewerage scheme for Kilcummin – have again been long-fingered.
Thousands of houses in the above-mentioned, densely populated areas are serviced by septic tanks and seepage from malfunctioning septic tanks is one of the causes of pollution in Lough Lein.
Killarney area councillors were shocked at their most recent meeting when told about the lack of progress on the schemes.
However, with a nudge and a wink from an influential politician in the right place, they are the sort of schemes that could be fast-tracked, recognising the importance of the Lakes of Killarney to tourism et al.
Labour councillor Marie Moloney introduced a deputation of bitterly disappointed Kilcummin people at the meeting.
Rod Murray, who has major plans to extend the Our Lady of Lourdes Nursing Home, in the village, and others on the deputation vented that anger and sheer frustration.
The people have been let down and the only wonder is that they are showing such restraint.
What really grates them is that their scheme was all set to go ahead, in 2007, but the contractor had to withdraw for health and safety reasons – something that has never been fully explained.
The Department of the Environment has now ordered the council to fully review and scale down the scheme and God only knows when work will start. Senior council engineer Maura Joy, who said it won’t be before 2012, was unable to give a likely starting date.
In the meantime, urgent work on roads around Kilcummin is being delayed, pending work on the scheme.
Cllr Moloney is not guilty of hyperbole when she says the roads in the area are probably the worst in all of Kerry.
The tenacious Cllr Brendan Cronin, meanwhile, is determined to get to the bottom of the collapse of the Kilcummin scheme, three years ago, stressing that somebody has to be accountable.
"It all goes down to the mess made by appointing a particular contractor. Someone took on a contractor when the alarm bells were ringing," he says.
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