Vol. 407 No. 8
72 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Environment if his attention has been drawn to the unsafe condition of the bridges on the eastern approach to the town of Kinsale, County Cork; if his attention has further been drawn to the urgent need to replace same; and if he will confirm that all necessary sanctions, approvals and finance are forthcoming to enable this work to be done immediately.
Two bridges on the Cork-Kinsale road (R660) between Belgooly and Kinsale are subject to weight restriction because of their structural condition. I understand that Cork County Council propose to leave these old bridges in place but to realign the road in the area, and to provide two new bridges.
Contract documents have been submitted for one of the bridges while outline proposals have been received for the second one. Amendments to the contract documents and the proposals are being discussed with the county council. These consultations will be concluded as early as possible.
As these two bridges are on a non-national road, their construction would normally fall to be financed from the local authority's own resources, supplemented by the discretionary grants provided by my Department. The discretionary grants notified to the local authority for 1991 amount to £8.163 million. The local authority have applied for a special grant for these works but, I am unable to provide such a grant in the current year.
