More discussion on bridge money

Kilcullen Community Action has been told that a sum of money allocated to Kildare County Council for refurbishment of the bridge 'will have to be substantially spent' by the end of the year, or it will be taken back.

Cllr Billy Hills clarified the position at a recent meeting of KCA, which was contrary to the position which had been suggested at a recent public meeting on the matter.

The KCA meeting heard that new local council engineer Willie Purcell has already engaged a consultant and an architect for the work.

But there is concern that the money will be spent on footpath repairs, which many believe is not what it was provided for.

"If the money is being provided for Village Renewal by the Department of the Environment, why is it that it will be used for footpaths?" Niall McDonnell asked.

Pat Canny was in agreement, saying that if money originally provided for environmental improvement purposes is being used for footpath repair, 'it is wrong'.

Orla O'Neill wondered if there were guidelines provided with the voting of the money which regulated how it should be spent.

Noel Clare, chairing the meeting, suggested that any footpath built with the money 'would be something special'.

He also said that Kildare County Council had never repaired 'one piece' of footpath in Kilcullen without the help and involvement of the community.

"But perhaps we should wait and see what the architects come up with?" he suggested.



The meeting was told that in the 'general concensus' so far from the professionals involved, the existing railings 'are fine' and should not be replaced with the money.

Cllr Hillis told KCA that the spending of €100,000 would probably pay for cobble-lock pavement and new kerbing 'and that's your lot'.

He also said that the expense of consultants and architects would not 'eat much' into the budget of €120,000.

But he noted that the 'cleaning up' of the bridge, removing weeds and other growths on the structure, 'would cost up to €50,000'.

However, he added that other suggestions, such as the provision of seating and parapet lighting, wouldn't be very expensive.

Following a comment from Ronan Murphy that developers who had caused damage to the footpath on the bridge should pay for its repair, Cllr Hillis said that he would see if there is a bond to cover it.

"But these bonds are typically only worth about €6,000," he noted. "And from the engineer's point of view, that's not a function of his department. He has money to spend, and he will spend it as he sees fit."

Noel Clare said that the community shouldn't 'appear to be negative' when they had a new engineer who 'appeared to be proactive'.

Cllr Hillis agreed, noting that the engineer had come from the NRA and had a somewhat 'different' agenda than was often experienced.

He also offered to arrange a delegation meeting with the engineer in his own office in Kildare County Council as part of an Area Meeting.

Brian Byrne.