An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be joined by Rose Katherine Kennedy Townsend to perform the official opening ceremony of the New Ross Bypass and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge tomorrow afternoon.

Rose Katherine Kennedy Townsend is the great-grandchild of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, grandchild of Ethel and Robert Kennedy and daughter of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and David Townsend. Her mother, Kathleen, is the eldest of Rose F. Kennedy’s grandchildren.

The new bridge 887-metre long structure named the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge crosses the River Barrow between Wexford and Kilkenny and forms a major part of the upgrades to the €230 million N25 New Ross bypass.

The new bridge is a stone’s throw from Dunganstown the ancestral homestead of President John F Kennedy and the eight other siblings of the famed Kennedy family with the bridge named after their mother Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Rose Katherine is a passionate advocate for information equity and has devoted her career to open data, government transparency, and improving technical capacity in the social sector. She currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for data.org, dedicated to building the field of data science for social impact. With a background in policy development, public-private-partnerships, and civic engagement, Rose Katherine supports civic tech movements across the globe to improve in-person and online connections for social entrepreneurship, local growth, and data justice.

During her visit to Ireland, Rose will meet with her Irish cousins and also visit the Kennedy Family Homestead, the JFK Arboretum and the Dunbrody Famine Ship and Emigrant Flame in New Ross Town.

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge is the longest bridge in Ireland, and its two main spans are the longest post-tensioned concrete spans of their type in the world.

Once open to traffic from Thursday it will significantly reduce traffic congestion in New Ross town and offer efficiencies on the strategic N25 route from Cork to Rosslare Europort. The scheme also links the N25 route with the N30 New Ross to Enniscorthy route.