Letter to the editor: Surely funds can be found to restore Kilkenny train station platform

Dear Editor,
It was with a mixture of both great excitement and no little hope that I read your recent article (Friday, July 12) concerning CIE's long awaited plan to restore the old platform at Kilkenny’s MacDonagh Railway Station.

This is very good news for the regular train commuters because of the increased capacity, with additional carriages been added to regular train services between Heuston-Kilkenny-Waterford and all points in between. This of course will also necessitate works being carried out to restore the roof of the old station and the 19 Arch Arcade Wall at long last.

The downside is that CIE says it does not have the funding to carry out the works. Surely through all of the State's arms and agencies the funding can be found to remove this current awful blight in its present condition on the landscape of Kilkenny City.

The people of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and Kilkenny Tourism have worked long and so hard to make Kilkenny such a wonderfully attractive tourist destination and they deserve the support of all to get this work over the line now.

Our Minister for Heritage, Malcolm Noonan TD has been supportive of these plans for some time, Kilkenny County Council has been proactive in pursuing CIE in terms of their obligations under The Protected Structures Planning Act 2000 and finally CIE has apparently accepted their responsibilities in the matter.

If there is a will by all sides to succeed (which there appears to be) a way can surely be found to secure the funding to carry out the necessary works required.
Finally, sir, thank you for you and your newspaper’s continued support and coverage of this matter.

Yours sincerely,
Donie Butler,
Kilkenny Railway Heritage Society
READ MORE: Waterford TD joins calls for platform extension in Kilkenny