Alert: Busy Kilkenny road to close tonight for emergency road repairs

A very busy road in Kilkenny is to be closed tonight (Wednesday) for emergency repair works.

The bridge in the centre of Thomastown was left impassable last Friday evening when a watermain under Market Street burst, flooding nearby buildings and causing extensive damage to the roadway.

It has been announced that tonight (Wednesday) the road will again be closed to facilitate temporary repairs to the thoroughfare.

At a meeting of Callan Thomastown Municipal District councillors it was announced that Market Street will be closed from 7pm to midnight (Wednesday, May 7, 2025).

According to Kilkenny County Council Area Engineer, Declan Murphy, the temporary reinstatement of the road surface will then be let 'settle' for several months before a permanent surface is put on the road.

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Councillors attending today's meeting paid tribute to the county council staff and emergency services who responded quickly to last Friday's incident. 

Municipal District chair, Cllr Deirdre Cullen, thanked the council staff, An Garda Siochána, the fire service and Uisce Eireann, many of whom were on-site immediately and worked through the night to restore the town's water supply and ensure it was 'open for the bank holiday weekend.'

"As someone said, it was like a bomb went off with the damage there," Cllr Cullen described the town after the incident.

See next week's Kilkenny People for more on the causes of the serious water main burst in Thomastown.