Work to replace a pedestrian bridge on the Kilkenny/Tipperary boundary which collapsed last November may not begin until the summer of 2027 at the earliest.
The structure at Killonerry formed part of the 104-kilometre South Leinster Way, which commences at the Carlow village of Kildavin and runs through Borris and the Kilkenny towns of Inistioge and Graiguenamanagh before reaching its most southerly point outside Carrick-on-Suir.
A joint submission for funding through the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme has been made by Kilkenny and Tipperary county councils, with a decision on funding expected in February or March of next year.
Councillor Pat Dunphy says work on it must begin sooner rather than later, but sounded a cautionary note telling KCLR News’ Dermot Keyes; “It’s going to take a while, there’s no doubt about that, but it needs to be pushed up not to drag on three, four, five years, that could happen, this is a serious bit of infrastructure in that particular area and I notice that the Area Engineer said the active travel people turned it down, said it didn’t comply, now Active Travel are spending a huge amount of money in Kilkenny city because of the population, I can understand that, but the Killonerry Bridge is on the border of Carrick-on-Suir, there’s a big population there as well”.
