Residents call for greater urgency in replacing collapsed bridge

PEOPLE in north Kerry are protesting about delays in replacing a bridge which collapsed a year ago under the weight of a truck carrying 250 pigs.

Money has not yet been provided for a new bridge at Ballinagar, Lixnaw, while residents and farmers in the area have to make long detours and diversions.

Residents’ spokesman Pat Walsh called on Kerry County Council to treat the issue with a greater sense of urgency. “Some landowners have to make 26km round trips every day to get to their land,” he said.

“People want to know when a new bridge is going to be put up.

“People’s quality of life is being affected by the delay,” he added.

The pontoon, metal bridge with a 30m span was erected several years ago as a “temporary” structure. But Kerry County Council had no money to build a permanent bridge in the meantime.

A council spokesman told the Irish Examiner plans for a new bridge and an application for money had been submitted to the Department of Transport, since the bridge collapsed.

He said they were still awaiting approval from the department.

A new bridge would cost about e1 million, according to engineers’ estimates.

The bridge collapse last February resulted in a major follow-up operation involving Kerry County Council, gardaí, Ballybunion Cliff and Coast Rescue, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Department of Agriculture.

About 50 of the pigs drowned, or suffocated, when the rear of the truck became submerged in about 3m of water.

Most of the surviving pigs later had to be put down.

A crane had to be brought from Cork to hoist the truck from the tidal River Brick.

At Listowel Court last month, the driver of the truck, David Patterson, of Screeby Road, Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone, was fined €300 when convicted of careless driving on the occasion.

There was a 120-tonne weight restriction on the bridge, but the truck was found to be carrying almost four times the allowed weight.