Macroom bypass approved: At long last

Once upon a time, a wise person wrote that it might be easier for a camel to get through the eye of an needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Had that parabolist experienced high-summer traffic deadlock in Macroom, they might well have used a different analogy.

For many decades, the town has been a bottleneck and a resolution of the difficulty has been long-sought and long-promised. That resolution moved a step closer this week, when it was announced that the Cabinet had, after many years of prevarication, finally approved a €280m upgrade on the route.

It is suggested that work will begin this year, which would be entirely welcome. The project includes 22km of new dual carriageway from Coolcower, east of Macroom, to include a northern bypass of Macroom, with the road continuing west to tie into the N22 close to the Cork-Kerry boundary.

If it is churlish to point out that the project will soon feature prominently in election literature, it may be even more churlish to hope that an announcement about the Dunkettle interchange might be made closer to the election.