An entire community was held hostage for over two hours by ‘boy racers’ who blocked a road to stage their own car stunts late at night during the Rally of the Lakes weekend, senior Gardai have been told.
The incident occurred on the L2032 road from Knocknaboul Cross to Glountane Cordal late on the Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday morning of the rally.
The matter was raised at a Joint Policing Committee meeting on Friday by Cllr. Charlie Farrelly who said it was totally unacceptable.
Cllr. Farrelly told Gardai and public representatives at the meeting that there were over 200 people on the normally quiet rural road, including 50 cars and spectators.
Tyre Changing Facilities
”They set up their own lighting on the roads and provided tyre changing facilities and they were diverting traffic from the road and instructing passers-by to use side roads,” Cllr Farrelly said.
He said numerous people contacted the Gardai in Tralee but, he claimed, it was two and a half hours before anyone arrived.
“To have such a delayed response is not acceptable. The community was held hostage for over two hours,” he told the meeting
No Man’s Land
Cllr Farrelly said a wide section of the road in question, which is like ”no man’s land” close to the Kerry-Cork border and near a bridge, was torn up and completely blackened by burning tyres and the matter has been raised with him by several concerned members of the community.
Asked if the delay in Garda getting there as due to a lack of available personnel, Cllr. Farrelly was assured by Chief Supt Padraic Powell that it was not down to a lack of Gardai.
“It was 100 per cent not a shortage of resources as we had traffic corps, drug units and uniformed units all available for the rally weekend.
Such Behaviour Not On
The Garda chief, who said he would investigate the matter, added that he travels on that route on a daily basis and he noticed the marks on the road and commented on it.
Cllr. Farrelly said he loves to see rally events coming to Kerry as they attract massive crowds but such behaviour is just not on.
He said the late night burnout gathering was per-arranged, probably on social media.
You can contact The Maine Valley Post on… Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467.
