Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated 4.45pm
ONE OF THE protesters against a bridge being built in Kilkenny has built a ‘raft’ in the river near the construction site.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, told TheJournal.ie that he built the raft yesterday and spent last night and today inside a tent on it. He had briefly left to go back to his home but intends on returning shortly.
He said that he has not heard from any authorities about the raft, or been asked to move. Canoes belonging to other protesters can be tethered to the raft and it is “just something for people to gather around” he said.
It is also there to “try and stop [construction workers] driving piles into the river and try and stop them building the massive bridge through the medieval heart of Kilkenny, which the majority of Kilkenny people don’t want”, he stated.
He is from the town and is opposed to the building of the bridge, but “totally in favour of building another bridge” to connect to the ring road.
“I think we should not build bridges, we should deal with the traffic,” he said. “I’d love to see Kilkenny being pedestrian and green, and with cycle lanes. We need to try and get traffic outside of the city.”
Controversy
The works on the proposed Kilkenny Bridge, which has been the subject of much controversy, were halted last Thursday after protesters entered the water.
Some went out in a canoe in order to stop the construction equipment on site from operating.
Temporarily suspended
Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council (KCC) Patrick Millea told TheJournal.ie that the works remain suspended, adding that “in our view [the Councillors'] it is temporary”. He said the hope is that the works will resume in the next day or two.
At an emergency meeting of the council on Saturday, its solicitor informed members that KCC “doesn’t have the power to stop the building of the bridge”, said Cllr Millea.
He added that “nobody objects to the protest as long as it isn’t obstructive”.
He said that he hopes the situation can now be worked out, adding: “Everybody is doing their best to get things back on track again”.
As chairman of the council, Millea said he supports the bridge, noting it is part of the Kilkenny Central Access Scheme (CAS), which will include the construction of a ring road.
He said that the ring road might take years to build, but that “you have to make a start” and this is the Kilkenny bridge.
CAS review
Councillors will meet again on the issue on 1 September, having agreed to undertake a review of the CAS.
The building of the bridge is being objected to by some locals who believe it would bring more traffic into the centre of the medieval city.
Some are calling for the funding that would be used on the bridge to instead be used to finish a ring road.
Some people opposed to the bridge have made their feelings known under the #savekilkenny hashtag on Twitter.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Lads..just build the bridge and get over it.
This bridge is not required and of course it can be stopped.
Build a bridge
Protect your City! This is a daft project driven by greed
If there was a bridge there then a boat wouldn’t be needed to cross the river. .
As the protester said why cant they finish the northern end of the bypass and this thing about coco not being able to stop the build sounds off, wouldn’t they have been the ones that put in the original application for the bridge build.
Building the bridge in the center is a bad bad idea and will destroy the look of the town etc.
Here we go. Another Occupy “something” protest. Just let it go you fools. The Bridge is going to be built 1 way or another. It’s a good thing this bridge. Such nonsense carry on.
And I can bet you said protesters will use the bridge when completed, dopes!
I don’t think it’s that bad looking but the ring road being finished is probably a more sensible idea. But I would like to know where all the protesters were during the years when other terrible decisions were made in kilkenny. The houses on the way up the steps to the cathedral are terrible looking right in front of it and they don’t look too old. And don’t get me started on letting a ladbrokes right in the centre of town on the parade. I like a flutter as much as the next man but the first thing you look at coming out of the castle is a tacky bookies… I admire the protesters tenacity though and I know a lot of them are honest working people, not the usual jobshy krustys you might usually associate with this kind of thing.
Down with progression.
Is building always progression? If a new construction ruins your tourism, heritage, culture and the ambience of the city centre is that not regression?
No, regression would be if they deconstructed a piece of infrastructure already in place. To suggest a bridge will ruin tourism, heritage, culture, etc. is a bit dramatic.
Is the new bridge just replacing the existing bridge that is really outdated and very dangerous to motorists , pedestrians and emergency services? Are these protesters available for work if living off the state?
I have protested. I am a teacher (not permanently employed but continually working year-round including summer break). Among the protestors are surgeons, doctors, teachers, engineers, business owners, child care workers, marketers, mothers, retirees, restaurateurs, designers, tradespeople… And being unemployed does not disallow a person to exercise their right to protest peacefully. Please think twice before you make assumptions about people you have never met.
As a teacher you should see the question mark ?
@paul, despite your question mark, you still implied that the protestors are living off the state, which is a really lazy cheap generalisation and one endemic to Ireland, it seems, where we view anyone protesting against something as being a nuisance!! Even at the birth of our republic, at the Easter Rising, I’m sure people were telling them to cop on, let it go and go get a job. Sad. If more of our nation had the passion to stand up for their ideals and liberties and go and march, then maybe we wouldn’t be complaining so much about what the government do to us.
Ok while we’re at a stand still is it possible to re-design the bridge to be more sympatic to the heritage …
Issue could be solved of ring road was completed . I’ve never understood the need for this road.
Its going to be built go hug a tree or three
Follow the money.
The doozers from Fraggle Rock were working hard overnight!
Its a seriously stupid remedy to a problem that isn’t there! There is a 3/4 ring road that provides access to numerous access streets to wherever you need to go in kilkenny! A bridge to allow access through the centre of the most medieval part of the city is idiotic!
Anytime I’ve had the “pleasure” of driving through Kilkenny the town has been choked with traffic. Something I try to avoid at all costs. Surely the building of the bridge will allow a better flow of traffic through the town? But the ring road does need to be completed as well.
Traffic flow will not be helped by the building of this bridge (which still has not got planning permission for roads to connect it at either side, making it a bridge to nowhere but the brewery site… A large supermarket has made a submission regarding having a presence there… Go figure). IF permission is given for the connecting road, it will knock medieval houses, and bring the traffic out onto the narrow junction on Vicar St, cutting through the Medieval Mile (just recently launched to the tune of €5.5million). Then it essentially goes nowhere.
Build a bridge and get over it
On my way lads !
Village life
See my comment above to similar point… Don’t have time to re-write as I must go down to protest in my spare time.
I have seen only one comment that suggests a reason for building this bridge and that’s traffic. The new bridge essentially does the same function as the old and crosses the river carrying traffic. Now either side of the proposed bridge are two large empty sites that many would like to see developed. This is the frustration, a bridge that essentially has no clear benefit over what pre exists.
Call the Mexican Ambassador to sort it out and he’ll surely get Gareth Brooks to perform at the opening ceremony
How do all these people have so much time on their hands on a weekday?
And what were they doing with all that time during the years when the bridge was being proposed and planned?
They take time off work, paid or unpaid. You see, some people care about protecting things like their hometown so much that they’re willing to sacrifice other things, like money.
These people objected and marched and protested the whole way through planning up to this year, when the county executive bullied the project through. That is why ‘these people’ are forced to sit in the river to get the objections they made, heard.
Ross just because people march doesn’t make them a majority. I want the bridge so what should I do . Protesters waste tax payers money someway or another but the majority of projects get done in the end.
Paul, if you want the bridge and you fear it may be stopped, than I suggest you march, get a petition together and protest. You see, that’s what we can do in a free country when we object to something being forced on us. And if you lose, does that mean you don’t ever try again? Protestors cause a loss of taxes that pales in comparison to what politicians and lazy civil executives waste.
I’m only a dozy auld art teacher paul, so I wouldn’t know anything about rhetoric or implied meaning etc.
I visit Kilkenny quite a lot to enjoy it’s beautiful architecture and not these ugly structures including the horrible metal foot bridge built last year right in front of the lovely Kilkenny castle, business’s need to get behind these protestors before it starts effecting them as I’m now very reluctant to visit Kilkenny, as usual these dictator councils just destroy instead of protecting our beautiful towns, protestors keep up the great work and best of look
have your say