Kerry’s newest parkrun delayed as owner of old railway bridge remains a mystery

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

The establishment of the Killorglin parkrun has been delayed as Kerry County Council work to find the owner of the historic railway bridge in the town.

Councillor Podge Foley, who has been working towards certifying the event, said he had a ‘funny feeling’ the council owned it.

At a recent Kenmare Municipal District meeting, Cllr Foley asked Kerry County Council to provide him with the name and contact details for the owner of the Iron Bridge in Killorglin, also known as the Laune Viaduct.

He said the council had carried out ‘massive’ repairs to the bridge in the 1993, as well as putting the lights on the bridge more recently.

Cllr Foley has been working with the community to establish a parkrun which it is hoped to involve the bridge and the new town park.

However, as part of getting the run certified by the official parkrun website, organisers need letters of permission from every landowner along the route.

“I’ve a funny feeling the council own it,” said Cllr Foley.

“Either we the public own it ourselves or the council owns it.”

Kerry County Council said the lands at the bridge and around it are not registered with the land registry.

A council official said it would take a ‘number of months’ to find the physical records as they would need to access a national archive in Dublin.

They said there were ‘not many’ records and that the old railway may not be fully in charge of Kerry County Council.