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Continuing our review of the year, here’s some of the news we brought you in July…
• It was a good start to the month for Gaelscoil Mhic Easmainn which was among the top schools recognised in the national Junior Entrepreneur Awards.
‘An Nead’ was the creation of the 5th Class pupils supported by their teacher Dónal O’Sulleabháin earned them the JEP Community Champions Award 2021. The brightly-coloured bird boxes were handmade and painted by the pupils.
• Cashless parking meters were introduced at two car parks in Tralee Town Centre, one located in the Parklands car park and the other in the Brandon car park, on a trial basis. Cash-friendly meters are still operational at both car parks.
The new parking machines facilitate the public to pay for their parking using a debit or credit card. If this trial period proves successful, the Council will proceed to tender for the replacement of all parking meters in Tralee town centre.
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• There was disappointment at the news that the Tralee-Fenit Greenway would not be opened to the public this year.
Council management said it had hoped to open the section of Greenway between Fenit and Spa for the summer of 2021. However, the site was closed from the start January to the middle of April due to the COVID-19 lockdown. It was now proposed to open the project in its entirety at the end of Q1 2022.
• The Mayor of Tralee wanted to find out the legality of drones flying over private houses.
At the July meeting of Tralee MD of Kerry County Council, Mayor Wall told of a recent occasion when he was in a friend’s garden when a drone came overhead.
“It seemed to stay there for hours but in reality it was only a few minutes. If I had a shotgun I’d have blown it out of the sky. I don’t like being spied on and I definitely don’t agree with them being allowed hover over private houses so I’d like to find out what the rules are.”
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• It was revealed that air services on the Kerry to Dublin route would resume in late July.
The collapse of Stobart Air on June 12 had resulted in an immediate cessation of Government funded Public Service Obligations (PSO) on vital regional air routes between Dublin and the airports of Donegal and Kerry.
The Government announced the Kerry route would be operated by Ryanair on a commercial basis.
• There were a lot of double-takes from locals on Castle Street when The Greyhound Bar appeared to have taken over Hennessy’s during the middle of July.
It was just part of the ongoing filming of the movie ‘Joyride’ starring Olivia Colman which was taking place around the county during the month,
The interior of Hennessy’s Bar was the location for filming but it also demanded a change of signage outside for one night only.
• Part of July saw Met Éireann issue Status Yellow – High Temperature warnings for Ireland as we basked in the sun.
High temperatures stayed for a number of days with hot conditions by day and staying very warm and humid at night.
Daytime maximum temperatures reached the high 20s as people flocked to beaches around the county.
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• The Directors of the Aqua Dome Tralee announced that due to the continuing Government ban on indoor activities, the facility would not reopen in 2021 and a new target date of Easter 2022 had been set.
• Water tankers had to be deployed at various locations around the Tralee area and beyond after a major burst on a trunk main on the Central Regional Water Supply Scheme on July 26.
The disruption led to thousands of homes and businesses being without water for a couple of days.
• The Kerry senior footballers won the Munster SFC title after a facile victory over Cork in Killarney. The scoreline was Kerry 4-22 Cork 1-9 on a scorching hot day at Fitzgerald Stadium.
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