Construction is to begin this year on a long-awaited bypass which will relieve a major bottleneck on the Dublin-Cork road.
The £25 million Cashel bypass is one of several major road projects being undertaken by Tipperary South County Council as part of the national development plan. Bypasses are also planned at Tipperary, Cahir and Carrick-on-Suir.
The Cashel project is the most advanced and is at the tendering stage, with construction due to begin before the end of the year, the county manager, Mr Ned Gleeson, says.
When the road is completed in, it is expected, late 2003, a spectacular vista enjoyed by motorists for generations will be no more. No longer will the Rock of Cashel come majestically into view to the right of the road for Cork-bound travellers approaching the town.
The bypass will ultimately form part of the Dublin-Cork motorway or dual carriageway, 31 miles of which passes through Tipperary South.
The Urlingford-Cashel and Cashel-Kilbehenny stretches are both at route selection stage and are due for completion in 2006.
In addition, construction of an entire new route for the Limerick-Waterford road (N24) from Monard to Carrick-on-Suir, a distance of 44 miles, is also planned by the council. Bypasses of Tipperary and Bansha, as part of this project, are at route selection stage with construction due to begin in 2002.
Work on other aspects of the project, including bypasses of Carrick-on-Suir and Kilsheelan and an east-west bypass of Cahir, is not due to begin until the following year.
The Cashel project will relieve a major bottleneck, says Mr Gleeson, but the new approach roads will be designed to encourage motorists to stop off in one of Ireland's most attractive towns. The Rock of Cashel, he points out, brings 250,000 visitors to the area each year.
"Tipperary isn't a major tourism county, despite all of the amenities we have. We are the home of the horse industry, if you like, with two major stud farms at Coolmore and Ballydoyle. The focus has to be on getting visitors, not just to come to the county, but to enjoy the amenities we have and stay for a time."
A new regional craft centre in Cahir and a purpose-built county museum in Clonmel are among the tourism projects the council has been involved in recently as part of an ongoing drive to raise the profile of the area.
In any event, it's a county not lacking in attention. Unless a general election is called soon, politicians in Tipperary South will soon be on the hustings for a second by-election in less than a year due to the untimely death of the Fine Gael TD, Ms Theresa Ahearn. That means the economic problems of a constituency which, Clonmel apart, is not benefiting fully from the economic boom, will again get a national airing.
Mr Gleeson acknowledges that Clonmel is doing particularly well, but says "the other towns have to develop on their own strengths. Some of the towns have different strengths to Clonmel, such as Cashel which has major tourism potential." The council, he points out, has developed enterprise centres in Drangan and Ballingarry, as well as Clonmel.
"Inevitably Clonmel is the strong centre in the county. It's one of the biggest inland towns in the country, and our projections are that over the next 20 years its population will grow from 16,000 to 17,000 at the moment to possibly 35,000 to 40,000. From a strong core you try to enhance the rest of the county, and that's the strategy from the county council perspective."
