Final phase of bypass through Limerick village fast-tracked for Ryder Cup

GOVERNMENT is looking to fast-track the construction of the final 3km of the Adare bypass to ensure it is in place by next year’s Ryder Cup.

That’s according to Tom Enright, the Government’s project director for the tournament in Adare Manor.

He said he expects the bypass, which will remove huge amounts of traffic from Adare village, will be ready by next spring.

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But as it is currently planned, the bypass stops short of fully connecting with the M20 motorway.

It means traffic from the city side still has to use part of the existing, single-lane N21.

“It is critical that element is fast-tracked because what we don't want is people coming off the motorway after Patrickswell, coming back on the N21 and coming back onto the bypass. It will cause traffic chaos. So we are fast-tracking that section of road,” Mr Enright told an information event at Adare’s village hall.

He also said there will be an upgrade to Manor Fields Road, leaving a “long-term legacy” in the village.

“There is €360m of public money being spent by Government to provide infrastructure around Adare not only to facilitate hosting of the Ryder Cup but there for many decades into the future to benefit people not just in Adare here but far away,” he said.

This week, steel girders were being shipped into Foynes Port from Italy to provide crossings of Adare’s River Maigue.

“These are critical to getting the scheme completed in time,” said Mr Enright.

At the event in Adare’s Village Hall, Communications and Sport Minister and local TD Patrick O’Donovan confirmed €5.7m of

Government funding to ensure Adare receives a lasting legacy from the hosting of the tournament. The lion’s share of this funding, €3m, is to be spent in the village hall.

The Government money has been topped up by €100,000 from JP McManus, and the hall committee themselves have been fundraising.

Mr O’Donovan believes the upgrade will be ready in time to provide a “focal point” to the hundreds of thousands of people visiting Adare for the tournament in September 2027.

He said comparisons between the Ryder Cup and the National Ploughing Championships are wide of the mark.

“It isn’t really,” he laughed. “Yes, there will be 240,000 people coming to Adare, similar to the ploughing championship. But the difference is not everybody comes to the Ploughing Championships from North America! Everyone going to the Ploughing Championships pretty much sets off from their own home. This is entirely different!”

The remainder of the legacy funding is to be spent on upgrading Adare’s Main Street and the village’s heritage centre.

Mr O’Donovan and Mr Enright both acknowledged some businesses in Adare will be inaccessible during the tournament week.

But the Limerick TD said everyone in the village is “united behind” what needs to happen for it to be a success.

“Everybody knows to bring 250,000 people into a village with one main street and a couple of small streets off it, there will be a level of discommoding. The village is united behind that. There is no negativity towards it. People know the discommoding is for the greater good. We are talking of building a 50 to 100 year tourism product here in west Limerick.”