Overview
This is a swing bridge that no longer swings. The rotating section in the middle was built to open and let boats through the Portmagee Channel, but the mechanism has been seized by corrosion since 2004, and Kerry County Council has never found the money – a 2008 report put the repair near €500,000 – to fix it. So the roughly 100-metre span of reinforced concrete and steel now sits fixed in place, doing the one job it does well: carrying the R565 from the mainland village of Portmagee onto Valentia Island.
For drivers, the crossing takes under a minute and you’d barely notice it but for the view. Stop on the Portmagee side, though, and on a clear day you can pick out the Skelligs through the gap of the channel, with the colourful harbour houses at your back. The bridge is the southern of the island’s two links to the mainland and the only one that runs all year.
The man it’s named for
Maurice O’Neill was not a bridge-builder or a local benefactor. He was an IRA volunteer, a young farmer from near Cahersiveen, executed by firing squad in 1942 for his part in a shoot-out in Dublin in which Detective George Mordaunt was killed – this under Éamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil government. He is buried in the Republican plot at Kilavarnogue Cemetery in Cahersiveen, and his name is on the memorial in Fairview Park in Dublin. When the bridge opened nearly thirty years later, the campaign to name it for him made it as much a political statement as a piece of road.
The bridge was built in 1970 and opened twice: unofficially on 1 January 1971 by the former Fianna Fáil minister Neil Blaney, and then – after a row over whether that opening counted – officially on 23 July 1971 by the chairman of Kerry County Council, with the bridge blessed by the Bishop of Kerry, Eamonn Casey. A fixed link had first been proposed back in 1911, but the First World War and then the War of Independence put it off for half a century.
Before the bridge, the island was reached by a scheduled, year-round ferry across the channel here. That service ended when the bridge opened, but it isn’t the whole ferry story: a separate seasonal car ferry still runs from Knightstown, at the island’s northern end, to Reenard Point on the mainland, from April to October. So if you want the old experience of arriving by boat, you still can – just not at Portmagee.
What’s across the bridge
The bridge drops you at the south end of Valentia, with the road looping north past the island’s headline sights. If you only have time for one, make it Geokaun for the view.
- Geokaun Mountain and cliffs – A short, steep drive (small entry fee at the gate) to the island’s highest point, with views over the Atlantic, the Dingle Peninsula and the Skelligs. It’s the most accessible high cliff viewpoint on the island; you can drive most of the way or walk the path up.
- Valentia slate quarry – Guided tours of a cavern hewn out for slate that roofed, among other buildings, the Palace of Westminster and the Paris Opera House. A Marian grotto now sits in one of the old worked-out chambers.
- Trans-Atlantic Cable station – Near the north of the island, this is where the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable came ashore in 1866, briefly making a remote Kerry headland one of the most connected places on earth.
- Tetrapod trackway – On the north coast, a set of footprints pressed into rock around 385 million years ago by one of the first vertebrates to walk on land – among the oldest such trackways known anywhere, and free to visit.
Skellig boat tours
Portmagee, on the mainland side of the bridge, is the main departure point for boat trips to Skellig Michael, the monastic island made famous well beyond Ireland by Star Wars. Landings depend entirely on the swell and wind, sell out far ahead, and are cancelled often – book early and treat any trip as weather-permitting.
Walking and cycling
Valentia is small enough to take on foot or by bike. The path up Geokaun is a steadier alternative to the summit road, and the quiet lanes north toward Knightstown give plenty of pull-offs down to small beaches and tidal pools. There’s no waymarked long-distance trail starting at the bridge itself, but the island roads are wide and well surfaced, and suit casual cyclists who’d rather stay on tarmac. Check the tide before you drop onto any low coastal path – the Atlantic comes in fast here.
Practical Information
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | Open 24 hours – the bridge is a public road and does not close for visitors. |
| Admission | Free to cross. (Separate attractions such as Geokaun Mountain charge entry fees.) |
| Parking | A small layby near the Portmagee end takes a few cars for photos; for longer stops use the village pier car park or the island’s own car parks. |
| Accessibility | The bridge carries vehicles and pedestrians on a level, paved deck, but the climb to Geokaun and most coastal paths are not wheelchair accessible. |
Getting there
The bridge is reached on the R565 through Portmagee. From Cahersiveen, follow the N70 and turn onto the R565 for Portmagee; the bridge is just past the village. From Killarney it’s roughly 75 to 90 minutes via Killorglin and Cahersiveen. There’s no longer a car ferry at Portmagee – the bridge replaced it – but remember the seasonal Knightstown–Reenard ferry if you’re approaching the island from the Cahersiveen side in summer.
Nearby
Portmagee has a few pubs, cafés and a shop, and is the sensible place to fuel up and stock up before crossing. The Skellig Ring and the Kerry Cliffs are minutes away on the mainland side. Cross early to beat the midday tour buses, and give yourself a full day on the island – between the quarry, the cable station and Geokaun, it fills one comfortably.