A new stretch of road around the scenic route at Slea Head, Co Kerry, could be completed before the summer tourist season if agreement can be reached with landowners, local officials said yesterday.
Diversions were in place yesterday, taking traffic away from the Slea Head drive after part of the cliff collapsed into the Atlantic at the weekend.
Signs have been erected to direct motorists to use alternative routes.
Acting county manager Tom Curran said that the new stretch of road could be built in months, and temporary measures put in place prior to that to allow the established circle of the Slea Head drive to be reinstated.
This depended entirely on the goodwill of local landowners with whom the council was now negotiating.
With over half of Kerry's coastline susceptible to erosion, Mr Curran revealed that the council was concerned about other stretches of road, many of them popular tourist routes.
These included the Inch road, the Magherees, the Kerry Head road and the Rossbeigh area as well as the Slea Head drive.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, yesterday said he was confident of getting Government funding for major repairs to the route on the Dingle peninsula.
At least 1km of the Slea Head road will have to be realigned and brought inland, with the existing section - which is displaying huge cracks - being closed off entirely, Kerry County Council said yesterday.
The council admitted to being surprised at the extent of the cracks on the road following the cliff collapse just metres away.
Putting a new stretch of road in place to facilitate the reopening of the circular 48km (30-mile) Slea Head drive will entail purchasing land from a number of landowners.
Negotiations were taking place and it was hoped that the council would not have to go down the compulsory purchase order route, which would take a long time, a spokesman said.
Agreement with landowners could clear the way for a temporary road to be opened in weeks, but everything depended on the landowners, the council spokesman emphasised.
At least €1 million will be needed to carry out land purchase and emergency repairs, according to preliminary council estimates.
Diversion signs were being put in place yesterday to indicate alternative routes visitors can take to access tourist attractions.
Council staff will be on duty at the diversion points over the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, a strong message to the effect that Slea Head was "open for business" came from a public meeting convened by the council in Dingle yesterday. It was hoped that this would allay worries expressed by ferry operators and people employed at tourist attractions in the county.
Fáilte Ireland director and Ventry publican Paidi Ó Sé, the former Kerry county footballer, who attended the public meeting, said that while the issue was serious for the area, the message they wanted to get out was that things would be put right.
While the cliff collapse had occurred at the worst possible time, Mr Ó Sé said that the Great Blasket Interpretative Centre, the Bronze Age forts, beehive huts and other major tourist attractions were all accessible to visitors. Ferry services to and from the Blaskets were not affected.
Mr O'Donoghue, who is a TD for the area, said he regarded what had happened at Slea Head as "an emergency". He indicated that Minister for If an alternative route was not provided it could seriously upset the tourist season. He had been in touch with
with this assessment.
>was an emergency situation.
Dingle, said that he would also be meeting Minister for the Gaeltacht>>seek Head road.
Tourism was the lifeblood of the area and the Slea Head route was a vital tourism link, Mr O'Donoghue added.
>who attended a public meeting convened by the council on the crisis in Dingle yesterday.
At least €1 million one million eurowill be needed to carry out land purchase and emergency repairs, according to preliminary council >There are few houses in the vicinity of the road collapse on the coastline between Coomenole and Dún Chaoin where the land is mostly used for farming and planning permission for family members is sometimes a contentious >