Tralee - Fenit Line

Tralee to Fenit Walk—Cycle

There has been much controversy in recent times regarding this topic.

If the ‘line’ is still held legally by CIE or Iarnrod Eireann then they and not any local interest have the right to stop walkers on the line. Those who have encroached on the line over the years surely have no right to prevent people from walking along the route. Yes, there are perhaps legitimate fears among some residents whose properties do border the route. Certain simple security measures can alleviate these fears.

Such a project, should it go ahead, would greatly enhance tourism and the local economy. Failte Ireland Tourism Reports consistently show that walking / hiking are the main attraction for tourists to this country.

I would certainly like to see a connection between the Tralee-Fenit line and the walk via the canal to Spa.

From Blennerville to the start of the Dingle Way there is also a need for a dedicated pathway separate from the road.

We must explore and develop these low-cost and necessary projects to enhance our environment to improve our attractiveness as a destination for foreign and local tourism. In the end all of us will benefit, however it is unfortunate that a small number of people cannot see the big picture.

Your views on this are welcome.

Caherslee News - New in 2012

Welcome to January 2012 Edition—Caherslee News

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this free publication, Caherslee News began life in the Spring of 2005 as a monthly publication. At that time and for several months it was distributed to every household in the general Caherslee—Mounthawk area of Tralee. In April 2006 the title was changed to Tralee Times and the publication was then distributed throughout the town to various business premises etc.

In the beginning the format was A4 two sided and in September 2006 it had become a 24 page colour free magazine. Since then the publishing of Caherslee News / Tralee Times has been intermittent. It is our intention to return to our original home and make Caherslee News available to you through the network of businesses and shops in the Caherslee-Mounthawk area. Limited copies will be printed therefore to ensure you receive a copy add your name to our mailing list contacting: cahersleenews@gmail.com and this will ensure that you receive a copy as it is published.

Caherslee News January 2012

Latest edition of Caherslee News in the shops this week
You can sign up for an emailed edition in pdf format by emailing: cahersleenews@gmail.com

Maapmawwd

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Tralee Man Mike O'Donnell

Mike Ireland's Premier:  Courtsketcher

www.courtsketcher.com

Summer Setting Sun in Tralee Bay

Courtsketcher - Mike

courts.ie Journal, March 2011

TRALEE BAY on FACEBOOK

Just added to FACEBOOK

Tralee Bay

Find it on FACEBOOK

HUGO

A most loyal and energetic dog.

The mascot of Tralee Bay

Tralee Bay - Put This Asset on The Map!

Tralee Bay is one of the most important resources available to us in North Kerry and particularly to Tralee.

The proper marketing of Tralee Bay and environs, encompassing already existing activities and adding others, will ensure that visitors will want to visit the area.

I will add what I think can and needs to be done to attract more visitors to the area later.

But in the meantime if you have suggestions please do contact me.

1. Improve access from the Canal Lock area to the Spa so that cyclists may also avail of the route and  

    prioritise the third class roads (yellow) from the Spa to Banna for cyclists - create a cycling route.

2. Mark distances along the beach at Banna with posts indicating 1/2 km intervals along the beach to  

    encourage walkers/runners

3. Create an annual weekend event that will attract locals and visitors to the beach area 

    e.g. International Sand Castle Building Competition 

4. Provide minor or basic facilities for those who participate in water sports e.g. outdoor showering - washing

5. Mark a looped walk or walks in the area beach and sandhills

6. Build enclosed bird watching units/shelters at strategic points within the Tralee Bay area.

7. Plan and promote annual onshore and sea angling competitions

8. Initiate studies or encourage studies and research of the marine processes of erosion, transportation and  

    deposition at various points within the Tralee Bay area

9. Provide and promote initiatives of educational (primary and secondary) value within the Tralee Bay area

10. Regular beach cleaning.

These are just some of the ideas which I have thought of for now.

Again, please do add to the list if you have other ideas.

BUT all of the above and other ideas depends on the effectiveness of MARKETING!

Lessons from History

Why study and try to understand history?

History is the past version of human action and / or inaction to crises and events.

If we decide to ignore or forget the human action and / or inaction to events, crises and issues of the past then we will fail to understand why or how the human race has arrived at this point in history.

The study of history is essential in order to learn about ourselves as a human race.

If we ignore history then we are on the path of repetition of events. Many of these past events, I can assure you, we do not want to revisit!

Concise History of Tralee

A Quick Guide to the History of Tralee

by Gerald O' Carroll

historytralee.wordpress.com

The Castle of Tralee was no ordinary castle. Straddling the area now the entrance to Denny Street (site of the Pikeman statue), it was the heartbeat of the Earl of Desmond’s liberty of Kerry. The liberty, a share in the royal prerogative, came with the grant of the earldom by King Edward III (1327-77) in 1329 to the southern Geraldines. When the Castle was demolished in 1826, Denny Street was built.

By then the Geraldine earls were long gone. The killing of the rebel Earl of Desmond, Gerald or Garrett, near Ballymacelligott in November 1583 inaugurated the Munster Plantation, which is to Kerry and North Munster (excluding Clare) what that other Plantation is to Ulster, or the Transplantation of Cromwell’s time to Connaught and Clare: it is the defining event of the region’s history. Captain Edward Denny was handed possession of Tralee. His seignory was six thousand acres in extent, a horse-shoe or territory around Tralee Bay with “the village of Traly” in the centre. Piaras Feiritéir, poet and privateer, laid siege to the Castle in 1642, and Lady Kerry (FitzMaurice, Lixnaw) wrote him a famous letter to spare the place; disease wreaked havoc inside. The Dennys would remain a presence to the late nineteenth century. They subverted the 1613 charter and packed the corporation; it took the Municipalities act of 1840 to break their grip. The writing was on the wall from 1832 when Maurice O’Connell, son of “the Liberator”, became MP, defeating Sir Edward Denny. His father, the famous Daniel, held the balance of power at Westminster during the 1830s. Tralee would retain its Westminster seat to 1885.

The port of Blennerville (the name comes from Blennerhassett, the other great family of the Munster Plantation) was developed in the early years of the nineteenth century. Grain was exported from there, and butter for the Cork market. Emigrants for the New World embarked there. From there the Jeannie Johnson set sail. The Canal linked the port to Tralee. It was opened in the 1840s; historically, vessels came to Day Place, the old dock of the town.

Holy Cross of the re-established Dominicans stands near Day Place, fashionable Georgian quarter of Tralee. It was not the first Holy Cross. Founded in 1243 by the Geraldine John of Callan, the Abbey district was just south of the present town Square. It was a very large complex and held the graves of many Geraldine earls. In living memory the meat families lived there; Tralee had two famous bacon factories. The first Denny had his house there, the Castle being in ruins after the wars of the 1580s and 1590s. In 1653 the Prior of Holy Cross, Thaddeus Moriarty, was executed. There followed the era of the Penal Laws against Catholics, ”when dogs were taught alike to run upon the scent of wolf and friar”. The re-established Holy Cross is the legacy of the famous Bishop David Moriarty in the 1860s – he who stated that eternity was not long enough, nor Hell hot enough, for the Fenians; he also re-established the Franciscans in Killarney.

One of the residents of Day Place was Charles George Fairfield, grandfather of writer Rebecca West. Her real name was Isabella Fairfield. Charles married Annie Rowan, sister of Archdeacon Arthur Blennerhassett Rowan, founder and mainstay of The Kerry Magazine (1864-56); Rowan was a pillar of the conservative Corporation, of which he was the last Provost. Rebecca’s skill with the pen is inherited, surely, from the Rowans.

Kerry’s reputation in insurrection owes little to the French-inspired Rebellion of 1798, which had no great impact in Kerry. Part of the reason may be that the powers-that-be were intermarried with the Gael. The Pikeman statue is a legacy of the commemorations a century later. By then the Irish land war had taken place, and the Plan of Campaign of the middle 1880s. The Plan made Kerry a very dangerous place to be. Sam Hussey, famous land agent, had his office where the Grand Hotel is now. They blew up his residence, Edenburn: the story was covered by the Irish Times. Historian Mary Hickson (then residing at Mitchelstown) blamed Tim Harrington and his newspaper for inflaming the people during the Plan of Campaign – and she alleged that the “Dominican Monks of Tralee” were lurking somewhere in the shadows behind him. At the end of it, the Land Acts, the first introduced by PM Gladstone, converted the tenant farmers into owner occupiers.

Maud Gonne (the object of poet W. B. Yeats’ desire) laid the foundation stone for the Pikeman in September 1902. In the late 1930s she was back to unveil a replacement after the first was pulled down during Ireland’s war of Independence (1919-21) by the hated Black and Tans. At the opposite end of the street is the Ashe Memorial Hall (home of the County Museum), named after Thomas Ashe, leader of the ambush at Ashbourne RIC barracks. He died on hunger strike. The Gaelic Athletic Association (football and hurling) helped heal the wounds of the subsequent Civil War. Joe Barrett, pig buyer from Rock Street, outstanding full-back on the four-in-a-row team of 1929-32, is often cited as one of the agents of reconciliation

Treaty Debates - Michael Collins

Words spoken by Michael Collins during the Treaty Debates on the 19th December 1921.

"I, as an individual, do not now, no more than ever, shirk war. The Treaty was signed by me, not because they [British Government] held up the alternative of immediate war. I signed it because I would not be one of those to commit the Irish people to war without the Irish people committing themselves to war. If my constituents send me to represent them in war, I will do my best to represent them in war." 

Classic General Schwarzkopf

A number of years ago, General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harboured and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America.  

His answer was classic Schwarzkopf.  

The General said:

"I believe that forgiving them is God's function. 

OUR job is to arrange the meeting"

Potholes are not being repaired properly!

Ever wonder why a pothole appears at a particular spot?

It may be that the existing surface is poorly laid there

It may be that excess water lodges there for too long

It may be where high volumes of traffic change direction at that spot

It may be that previous repair at that spot was poorly completed

It may be that work carried out by utility companies such as the ESB or Telecoms have not been reinstated properly

Causes of potholes

Potholes form when water seeps through tiny pores on the road surface into the asphalt or tar pavement. During rainy weather when the top layer of the pavement is soaked in water as a result of prolonged rainfall, the composition of the top layer is weakened and clusters of aggregates may be loosened and subsequently removed by traffic running over it. Potholes are therefore more evident during or after wet conditions. Recent very cold weather has also contributed to the appearance of several potholes. When water seeps into the surface and freezes, the water when frozen expands by up 9% and this continued for a prolonged period - freeze-thaw action. Freezing and thawing water / ice further undermines the road surface and contributes to the development of these 'new' potholes. One does not need to be an engineer to understand how this process works!

How to Repair Potholes Properly

The following steps will ensure that a pothole is repaired properly. I have seen this work being done and I can say that it works!

Cut edges of pothole straight with power-saw

Remove cut road surface completely

Remove all loose aggregates (loose materials)

Apply some form of tack coating

Pour a fresh mix of tar / asphalt

Compact the area

Finished product

All we need now is for the Councils to deliberate on this option, meanwhile road users suffer!

Kerry Football - still in good hands!

Jack O'Connor has the time and the depth in the squad to format a team for a return to Croke Park late in September 2011. A mixture of many of the 'older' players and a good sprinkling of up and coming 'younger' players will ensure that The Kingdom will be a formidable force in the Championship this summer. I have little doubt that there is immense hunger and talent among the squad and serious intent in the management team to achieve the ultimate. 

Division 1 of the National League is turning out, at this early stage, to be very open but I predict that Kerry will be in the final and will win it!

Revenues Slice Increases

Excise duty and VAT i.e. Revenue (the Department of Finance) is the major beneficiary of the price you pay at the pump. The higher the price at the pump the greater the VAT paid. Currently c. 66% of the price of a litre of fuel at the pump goes to Revenue.

Blennerville to Tralee Ship Canal

    On February 15th 1828, a petition on behalf of the gentry and merchants of Tralee was made to the House of Commons, by Maurice Fitzgerald, the Knight of Kerry. This petition sought the sanction and aid of Parliament towards the completion of a ship canal from the town to the sea. A Bill was introduced, and having passed through the necessary parliamentary processes, was finally sanctioned by a local Act in June 1829. In 1834 the harbour dues levied on shipping and cargoes in the port, collected from merchants and townspeople amounted to £600.
    Work on the Tralee Ship Canal began during the 1830's. The canal stretches from about half a mile beyond Blennerville Quay, to the port of Prince's Quay, right on the edge of Tralee town. At Blennerville, a lock was built, with a wooden drawbridge which could be pulled up to let ships through.

However, within 20 years the final section of railway track was laid connecting Tralee to Killarney and to the national train line network. This work was completed in 1859 when the railway station in Tralee (now Casement Station) was opened.

Today, the Canal is used by Tralee Rowiug Club and is bordered on the north side by a fine walk or pathway used by locals and visitors.

Loading Ships at the Basin, Tralee

Glanageenty - a mysterious hidden treasure!

Glenageenty is an area of mystery, myth and folklore, a wild and rugged landscape that was once the sanctuary to some famous heroes and bandits alike.

This loop is the shorter of two loops and it takes you along its river banks and woodlands to listen to singing birds, gurgling streams, and the underfoot crunch of fallen hazelnuts and oak leaves - a paradise of peace and tranquility.

For those with an interest in birdlife, ravens, hen harriers, kestrels, pheasants and cranes are all regular sightings - for nigh-timers it's a haven for bat life! Wild goats can frequently be seen sunning themselves in forest clearings.

Tree lovers will encounter oak, birch, sallow, hazel, mountain ash, white and blackthorn, sycamore and various types of spruce in abundance.

It was in this glen that Gerald the last Earl of Desmond was beheaded in 1583 after months of hiding in dense woods - a plaque now marks the spot where his blood stained the earth.

The loop takes you by the site of the Desmond Castle and on via the Ravens Glen waterfall to the ruins of Sean Thaigh Og’s cabin where in 1916 Robert Monteith evaded his enemies after the unsuccessful landing of arms at Banna Strand.

From this secluded glen we can see the route and the hideaway taken by Stephen Fuller in 1923 when he was sole survivor of the Ballyseedy massacre.

There are glorious vistas of Carrantuohill, Ireland’s highest mountain, the gap of Dunloe and Mount Brandon. More recently, valley floor, the Glounageenty River the rugged hillside and the forest glades inspired and honed local mountain man John Lenihan into peak fitness in 1991 before he traveled to the Matterhorn in Switzerland to become first Irishman to win the world title for mountain racing.

Source: http://www.discoverireland.ie/

To access Glanageenty from Tralee, travel towards Castleisland until you 

reach O'Riada Bar & Restaurant. Turn left and travel to the end of the road. Turn left and travel for approx. 1 km, look for the brown coloured road sign TRAILHEAD which will point you to your right. 

Don't forget to bring the usual walking gear, particularly walking boots as some of the trails can be muddy. Enjoy!

Banna Waves

High tide and the setting sun at Banna Beach in 

Tralee Bay this evening

Historical Population of Kerry

Historical

Population Figures for County Kerry

1841—2006

Source: www.cso.ie

The current (2006) population of Co. Kerry is approx. 47% of the total for 1841.

The population decreased to 112,772 in 1971 which was approx. 38% of the 1841 high.

The 2011 Census, in April, may not be too indicative of the declining trend in the Co. Kerry population but future ones will be.

In future years the numbers in the age group 18-30yrs. should be interesting as these are most likely to emigrate.

During the 1980’s, nationally, 30,000-40,000 people in the 18-30  age group emigrated annually.

“If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.”  

Socrates

Passion for Ireland?

“The doom of a nation can be averted only by a storm of flowing passion, but only those who are passionate themselves can arouse passion in others”

Quotation attributed to Adolf Hitler.

Do we have the politicians with enough passion for our country to avert the "doom of a (this) nation" ?

Fuel Prices at the Pumps

Petrol and Diesel Prices at the Pump

National Average Price Index in € cent

Month of January 1997 - 2011

 Source: AA Ireland

Banna Beach Raw!

Today, February 19th, 2011 at c. 17.00 hrs. Banna Beach was rough and raw but it did not stop some from surfing!

Average House Prices in Ireland

House Price Statistics in the State—since 1970

Average figures for selected years.

Prices in €. Source: CSO

Caherslee News

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Editor Len

State of Our Roads

Don't travel at night beyond the town limits as there is news of people, dogs and vehicles of all sizes falling into deep black holes!

The Irish Language in School

Is it any wonder that competencies in Maths, Sciences and English among our young are falling behind the levels attained in other countries when so much time is spent teaching Irish in our schools.
The Irish language lobbyists would serve this country better if they existed in the real world where our school children need the knowledge and competency in multiple foreign languages and sharper Maths, English and Science skill levels. Too much time and far too many resources are spent teaching and learning Irish - result? On average 13 years learning and little or nothing to show for it in the end!
If students wish to pursue Irish as one of their chosen languages then by all means give then the time and resources but these resources should not be forced on those who don't want Irish.

Why Public Service Unions have "Power"

Public service union have power since they are most likely the only bodies which hold incompetent public service managers to account!

€28m St Patrick’s Global Celebrations - Waste!!!

Tourism Ireland proclaims that their "our ‘greening’ initiative continues this year........" for the 

St. Patrick’s Global Celebrations.

There are many, many other more worthy causes that would benefit much more from an input of 23million euro in Ireland today.

I suspect that St. Patrick's Day Celebrations at home in Ireland will be very muted this year.

The annual visit to the Whitehouse in Washington is by far the greatest opportunity that this country has for exposure on the world stage, but I doubt if it is necessary to look beyond London for celebrations on this side of the Atlantic.

Part Solution to Our Financial Woes!

This State should actively consider the sale or lease of; (a) part of Cork Harbour and (b) Shannon Airport, to the United States or the highest bidder. A naval base could be installed in Cork Harbour and an Air Force Base in Shannon.
Since neither of these locations are, according to current policy, of any strategic value then, why not?
If leasing is the option then make it a 99 year lease.
Activities such as outlined above would lead to job creation in ancillary industries and services for hundreds and probably thousands of people.
Service providers in the hospitality, leisure (golf etc.), transport sectors would benefit hugely too.

Shameful Public Service Management

In the provision of public services, i.e. education, health etc., the vast majority of frontline staff are competent or better than competent in their delivery of services. However, it is often the case that the management of the services at national and / or local level is the weak link or the incompetent element. Such incompetence at management level hinders the delivery of the service by frontline staff.
This situation has been arrived at because of the appointment of inappropriate people to management level. This occurs when political interference is allowed to intervene in the choice of the person to take on the duties of managing these services.
I submit that in order to achieve a more efficient public service there must be a means by which those currently in management should be obliged to prove their suitability for the job in a competency test relating to their position.

Danger Pathway into the Unknown

Would you take this path without first assessing the possible dangers ahead?

Would you take this path without the necessary information and equipment to ensure that you would be safe and that you could reach a known destination?

It now seems that the outgoing government of Ireland did not answer these questions satisfactorily in relation to Irish banks, in September 2008!

Motorway Madness!

Billions of euro have been spent on a motorway network in the recent past. I submit that this money would have been better spent on high grade dual carriageways rather than motorways.
Dual carriageways would have been cheaper and more quickly built. There could have been a larger network throughout the country.
The money saved could have been put into upgrading secondary routes and high traffic volume local and regional roads.
There is also the added advantage that the speed limits for dual carriageways is lower (100 kph as opposed to 120 kph on motorways) and therefore are more fuel efficient!