Petition calls for new bus connection for Kealkil

A PETITION calling for a new bus route in Kealkil has been submitted to the Bantry Local Link office.

Cllr Caroline Cronin (FG) confirmed to The Southern Star that a resident of Kealkil established the petition seeking a new route connecting Kealkil to Bantry.

While there is an obvious need for such a service, the councillor said it should be expanded to include a route from Bantry to Macroom, with stops in both Kealkil and Ballingeary.

‘I am frequently contacted by elderly individuals who are struggling to attend appointments and cannot afford the high cost of taxi fares,’ she said.

Cllr Cronin said elderly single people, and elderly couples, are having to rely on taxis to bring home their weekly shopping, and she said this is posing ‘a significant financial burden’.

The Fine Gael councillor highlighted one case in which an elderly couple had to fork out €180 for taxi fares.

‘The husband was hospitalised in Bantry, and his wife spent €60 a day over a threeday period on taxis,’ she said.

‘While there are 11 daily bus services passing through Glengarriff and Ballylickey, there are no daily services in Kealkil,’ she said.

‘I believe there was a Macroom to Bantry bus route in the past, but that is no longer the case,’ said the councillor, who confirmed that a petition for the proposed new route has already been submitted to the Bantry Local Link office.

The Fine Gael councillor complained that there is a lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to providing public transport. The inadequacy of the service is also impeding people from taking up job opportunities in Bantry, she said.