Kilkenny councillor re-affirms commitment to Northern Ring Road extension

Local Fine Gael representative and General Election candidate, Cllr David FitzGerald has re-affirmed his desire to see the completion of the Northern Ring Road extension in Kilkenny City.

The proposed Northern Ring Road extension is planned to connect the N77 from the roundabout at the Castlecomer Road to the Freshford Road, just north of UPMC Aut Even Hospital.

"Two years ago as your mayor I restarted the project to build the Northern Ring Road extension," he said.

"We've already completed the initial traffic surveys and we've applied for the money to do the engineering works," Cllr FitzGerald added.

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The General Election hopeful also claimed he has spoken to An Taoiseach Simon Harris to ask him to prioritise the extension. 

"The Northern Ring Road Bridge has the potential to transform the entire city and provide safe routes to our hospitals, schools and the St Canice's Parish area but also creates an opportunity to transform the entirety of North Kilkenny," he concluded.

The subject caused heated discussions at a Kilkenny County Council meeting earlier this year.

At a council meeting in County Hall, Kilkenny County Council Director of Services, Tim Butler, told elected members that the local authority did not require the €100,000 funding made available to them by the Department of Transport to progress the project.

Mr Butler’s clarification followed comments from Minister of State Malcolm Noonan, who expressed disappointment in the local authority that the allocation had not been spent.

In a press release, Minister Noonan commented: "After many years of pressure and delays, I was expecting to see significant funding allocated to progress the Ring Road extension this year. Instead, we found out that Kilkenny County Council didn’t apply for funding this year and that last year’s funding wasn’t spent."

Mr Butler told elected members that the local authority had been in the process of submitting a strategic assessment report on the Northern Ring Road extension project to the Department and noted that the last part of this report was being supported and funded by the National Transport Authority (€80,000) under the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP).

"We therefore did not require to draw down the Department of Transport allocation," Mr Butler told the Kilkenny People after the meeting.

"I think it is entirely inappropriate and unfair that he (Minister Noonan) would now effectively throw Kilkenny County Council under the bus in front of the public and say that the reason that this hasn't progressed is because of Kilkenny County Council," Cllr FitzGerald said.