By-pass link was hot topic 30 years ago

In January thirty years ago in Kilcullen, the pressure for a link road to the north end of the town from the new bypass was ‘intensifying’, according to a story by Vicky Weller in the Leinster Leader, writes Brian Byrne.

The story followed the submission by a deputation from Kilcullen Community Development to the Department of the Environment’s Minister Rory O’Hanlon. When no response had been received, the report notes that local businessman Pat Dunlea was planning to run as a link road candidate in the next General Election ‘if no positive action was taken’ on the issue. The Minister, it was also reported, had been sent a letter by local resident Dr Tony O’Reilly, urging the provision of the Kilcullen link.

Pat Dunlea was quoted expressing the ‘considerable disappointment’ in KCD over ‘the lack of understanding’ shown by department officials. “We are not actually looking for a road,” he said. “We are looking for an egress ramp, and a group of local people has even offered to purchase the piece of ground required and hand it over to the department.”

By April, the department had responded, though passing back the buck to Kildare County Council by suggesting that if the Council prepared the plans, ‘the matter would be given further consideration’. This was remarked on as ‘curious’ by the County Manager Gerry Ward. Officials in the Council had consistently argued that the link ramp was not necessary, while the elected members had previously voted that the link should be provided ‘in principle’.

In the absence of a positive outcome in the saga, Pat Dunlea did indeed run in the General Election in November 1992, though he wasn’t successful. And, of course, the link road was never provided. In the meantime, Kilcullen Community Development were setting about ‘presenting a new post by-pass face’ in order to make the town attractive. The work included a new flower bed in the square, cobble-lock footpaths, improved parking and new street-lights.

Some of the large attendance at a meeting in October 1989 from which Kilcullen Community Development was formed.

Kilcullen Community Development had been formed after a public meeting in 1989 about the future of the village. The by-pass link was just one of many projects it campaigned for, that also included new water and sewerage systems, the refurbishment of the Town Hall, and more.

(This is just one of the stories covered in the scrapbook recently provided to the Diary by PJ Lydon, documenting Kilcullen life and happenings through clippings from the Leinster Leader and The Nationalist in the decade between the mid-1980s and mid-90s.)

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