A man in his 90s has told a county council meeting he was sick to death of "lame duck excuses" after road improvements begun 26 years ago on a major tourist route had still not been completed.
The road works begun in the 1970s had been suspended after roads funding nationally became "severely curtailed" and the council was still playing catch-up, he was told.
Mr Michael Fleming (92) led a large delegation of residents of The Gap Cross near Killarney to an area meeting of county councillors. Letters from coach tour operators outlining their fears were also handed into the meeting.
Mr Fleming said he sold land to Kerry County Council 30 years ago for the road improvements. At that time land had been acquired from others to widen and improve the local primary road.
The road, which reaches a maximum width of five metres, led from the N72 to the Gap of Dunloe, one of Ireland's most famous tourist spots and to Macgillycuddy's Reeks. It carries some of the heaviest tourist traffic in the country, the meeting was told. It had several blind bends. Vehicles having to pass each other had almost to go up on the ditch, Mr Fleming said.
Work had started on straightening bends in 1979, but had been abandoned after just a few weeks. The land had been fenced off and it had remained idle since.
Mr Tom Curran, Kerry county engineer said there was no money available for the road under current programmes.