MEP Wants Tralee Railway Tourism Facility Reopened

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MEP Deirdre Clune with Tralee Chamber Alliance CEO, Kieran Ruttledge.

MUNSTER MEP, Deirdre Clune, met with a delegation from the Tralee Chamber Alliance and tourism-related interests at the National Ploughing Championships last week and said she wanted to see the steam train railway line from Blennerville to the Wetlands reopened.

“I spoke to Kieran Ruttledge from Tralee Chamber who outlined a number of ways that I can help to develop the tourism product in Tralee,” said Ms Clune.

“One of the issues we spoke about is the continued investment in tourist attractions in Tralee town. We need investment in maintenance and running costs. It is exciting to see projects like the Tralee Wetlands getting investment but there is a railway line that goes through the Wetlands that is lying idle due to running costs. That doesn’t make any sense,” she said.

“As part of my remit on a new tourism taskforce in the European Parliament, I have invited a high level delegation from the Parliament to visit Kerry and the South West to see the kind of impact that tourism revenue can have on a town like Tralee. I have also scheduled a meeting with Tourism Ireland chiefs where I want to specifically bring up Tralee town,” continued Ms Clune.

“It seems to me that Dingle, Killarney and other such Kerry towns have capitalised much more on the Kerry tourist market than Tralee has. There are a number of dedicated people pushing hard to make Tralee a top tourist destination but they must be given any and all assistance that they need at both a national and European level,” she said.

“According to the Irish Hotels federation, tourism has the potential to create 20,000 extra jobs by 2020. Tralee is well positioned to capture a large share of Kerry’s tourism market,” concluded Ms Clune.

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Sandra Leahy of Kerry County Museum with Deirdre Clune MEP and Lisa Geaney, Tralee.

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