A view of the bridge

I'm a trustee of the Valley park. I don't remember the circumstances in which that came about, except that I was probably asked to be so when I was in the family business in Kilcullen.

Nevertheless, Jim Collins and myself are the only remaining trustees, despite my not wanting to be for several years now.

I'm aware of a proposal which Jim Collins has made about the building of a pedestrian bridge across the river, which would provide a public 'round walk' in conjunction with the new 'boardwalk' provisions in the late Pat Dunlea's development on the other side.

The idea of such a bridge was actually first mooted in the seventies by the former Kilcullen Community Council, of which Jim Collins was a very active member.

Prior to that, when the scrubland that is now the Valley park was put up for sale, KDA in the person of the late Paddy Nugent was one of the bidders. Paddy, at the time, would be classed in today's terms as a developer.

A number of community leaders, including the late Mrs Connolly and Jimmy Corrigan, went to the auctioneer and heard his client's asking price of £2,000. They made a kind of commitment to match that and buy, and went back to their community council committee. There was a vote and the Valley was bought on the result of it.

This writer remembers a lot of public angst at the time over the spend. But what is there today represents a major triumph compared to the 'jungle' in which I and my friends used to play as young children, when it was of absolutely no use to anybody.

I believe personally that the opening of the Valley to being part of a 'circular park' around the river is a good idea, and one now reaching its time.

I remember when the Kilcullen Community Council proposed it in the seventies, and the idea was effectively kyboshed by Kildare County Council's unwillingness to vacate their unsightly yard on the north bank of the river.

One of my last conversations with the late Pat Dunlea, by phone, was with him on his sickbed. During it he said again that he wanted to eventually build that pedestrain bridge which would open up the Valley as part of a community facility that would benefit everybody in the town.

If there are concerns about whether this is a benefit to the developer which should be paid for by a commitment to maintaining the Valley, that's something which can be discussed. But the concept that was a part of the community wish back in the seventies, and made not possible only by the local authority's tunnel vision, perhaps should not now be made part of a bargaining ploy.

KCA is the Tidy Towns Committee. How it has over the years kept the Valley clean and tidy, helped in that effort on a 'global' Kilcullen basis by both grants from Kildare County Council and local fundraising, should never be underestimated or underappreciated. KCA also pays the insurance premium that allows the Valley to be used by the community as a public park.

Maybe it is time that the local authority actually became proactive in this, by itself committing to keeping the Valley clean as part of an improved similar service to the town from which it is receiving a very increased level of business rates and planning levies?

Brian Byrne.