Protesters seek to sort out Dingle ‘road mess’
Upwards of 700 people took part in a protest march in Dingle, Co Kerry, on Saturday, sending a clear message to An Taisce and environmentalists “up in Dublin” that they want a €65m road upgrade to go ahead.
An Taisce, which is objecting to the plan — which involves widening and straightening on the N86 Tralee to Dingle road and providing cycle lanes — came under fire and was urged to withdraw a judicial review in the High Court.
Dingle-born Joe O’Toole, a former senator and teachers’ union leader, said that he resented people in Dublin calling those in the Dingle Peninsula anti-environmentalists.
“People here and their ancestors have protected their heritage and environment over the centuries,” he said. “This road plan presents no threat to the environment — we’re neither luddites nor anoraks, and we know what we want for the environment.”
Pleading with An Taisce to “mend its ways’’, Mr O’Toole said seeking a judicial review was the last refuge as the road plan had been through the planning process a number of times. “It means you’ve lost the argument and you’ve nothing else left to do,” he said
An Taisce is legally challenging the decision on the N86 because, it claims, An Bord Pleanála did not comply with Irish and EU law for an environmental impact assessment on the whole, 28km project.
The heritage body said it was significant that An Bord Pleanála’s inspector highlighted An Taisce’s concerns as to how the project was being spilt into sections so as to preclude an overall environmental assessment. In a statement, An Taisce said the courts had already decided there was an issue which needed to be fully heard and decided.
“To draw an analogy, consider a windfarm developer who decided to split up his project of 32 turbines into separate projects of one turbine each,” An Taisce said in a statement. “Surely you would argue that the impact of all 32 turbines need to be considered and fully assessed as a whole.
“It is also worth noting An Bord Pleanála itself originally decided that the exact same scheme represented an unjustifiable intrusion into the landscape of the Dingle Peninsula until this decision was judicially reviewed by Kerry County Council.
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Led by the Dingle Fife and Drum Band, the protesters carried placards in Irish and English, with slogans such as “Mo Naire Sibh An Taisce’’ (Shame On You, An Taisce) and “An Bothar Direach, An Bothar Ceart’’ (The Straight Road Is The Right Road).
Removing hairpin bends is not just about making it easier for tourists — locals also said they need a better road for their daily business and emergencies getting to the nearest acute hospital, about an hour away in Tralee.
Traffic they said, is increasing, with tourist coaches and cars, and lorries taking animals to marts and fish to other EU countries.
Dingle-based Fine Gael councillor Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald quoted garda statistics since 2000 which showed four fatal accidents, five serious injuries, and 33 minor injuries on the N86. Data from the National Roads Authority found the number of collisions was more than twice the national average in some sections.
