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Continuing our review of the year, here’s some of the news we brought you in March…
• It was revealed that part of the Tralee-Fenit Greenway which was due to open before the summer 2021 season would not be completed on time.
Cllr Mikey Sheehy asked Council management how have the LEVEL 5 restrictions impacted on the Greenway completion timelines.
He was told that prior to the current COVID lockdown and the cessation of construction works it had been intended that the section for the Spa to Fenit would open in early May 2021.
However, due to the lockdown, that date would not be achievable, and a revised programme indicated that the section would not be opened before early July.
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• There was bad news when Bank of Ireland announced the closure of its Castleisland, Killorglin and Munster Technological University Tralee branches from September.
Bank of Ireland is closing a number of branches nationwide and say footfall at the closing branches is down on average by around 60% since 2017, while digital usage has increased by one third.
Photo: Poshey Aherne
• KERRY County Council felled a line of trees on the Dan Spring Road in March.
The Council employed an arborist to assess the line of poplar trees along the side of the road by the Tralee Harriers grounds.
The recommendation was that the trees had reached their ‘end of life’, were not a suitable type of tree for that location and it would be appropriate to fell them.
The removal of the poplar trees was described as “deeply concerning” by Tralee Green Party representative Anne-Marie Fuller.
• The Government announced funding of €200,000 for a walking trail in Tralee. €200,000 was granted towards connecting the Ballyseedy Amenity Trail with a new walk by the River Lee in Tralee.
The project involves the creation of a circa 5km loop walk by linking existing trails with a new 800m long trail on the northern side of the River Lee on land donated by the McGillycuddy family.
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• Gardaí seized €45,000 of suspected drugs in Tralee in mid-March. Gardaí from the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit, assisted by Tralee Gardaí, executed a search warrant at an apartment on Upper Castle Street, Tralee.
During the search Gardaí seized eights bottles containing suspected xanax tablets with an estimated street value of €8,000. As Gardaí continued the search the found €37,200 of suspected cocaine that had been split into 19 bags.
• St Patrick’s Day was celebrated virtually with Kerry County Council presenting a special video featuring representatives from statutory bodies, local Guides, Brownies, sports clubs, primary and post-primary schools along with charities, civic and business organisations as well as marching bands and performing arts groups.
It also features global greetings and messages of hope from frontline healthcare providers who were the honorary Grand Marshals for the 2021 Virtual Parade.
• Tralee was allocated €15.9m under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF).
Among the projects set to benefit for Tralee are the Tralee town centre Public Realm works and a number of areas in other parts of town.
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• It was revealed in late March that there had been 346 COVID-related fines issued to people by gardaí in the Kerry Division up to March 25, 2021..
Gardaí in the Southern Region (Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford) issued more fines than any other region (5,035), with the Dublin region next (4,462), followed by the North Western Region (3,703) and the Eastern Region (3,234).
• It was announced the Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman would be in the Tralee area in June as she was set to star in a film written by a local woman.
‘Joyride’ was written by Tralee native Ailbhe Keogan and would be filmed in Tralee and other parts of Kerry during the summer.
• Kerry would receive €5,644,500 in funding for walking and cycling projects in towns and villages across the county.
Projects in Tralee were set to receive €1.645m of this funding. These include €1,130,000 for interconnected networks cycleways in town at Bracker O’Regan Road (€850,000), the Town Park (€180,000) and the canal to town (€100,000). Also, €515,000 had been allocated for junction upgrades in the town.
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