Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We spent more time off the road than on it, but of course we had a designated driver.

The A5 is nearly the last of the motorways needed. It would pay for itself because it would bring plenty of investment into those areas where it is needed. As a minimum we need certainty about the design for the part from Clontibret to Aughnacloy. There is no point having 400 m sterilised for the next 100 years for the farmers. The road from Strabane to Derry is like a switchback railway. It can take an hour to make the journey.

As regards the Narrow Water Bridge, there is no point in my repeating what Mr. Murphy and Deputy Kirk said except that INTERREG V does not cover funding for the Narrow Water Bridge. Let us not fool ourselves. If an application was made under the guidelines as they stand it would not be possible to get funding. The three Administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and here can do a great deal to change those guidelines, which are draft guidelines, and that at least would allow us to apply for funding under INTERREG.

In October 2013 the North-South Ministerial Council stated it supported the concept of the Narrow Water Bridge. That is a bit woolly and needs to be upgraded to a commitment to the provision of the bridge. Louth County Council will be very reluctant to do this on its own. It is the lead partner but that is for technical reasons. Somebody had to do it. As Mr. Murphy says, Newry and Mourne, or whatever it will soon be called, Louth County Council and the East Border Region are all partners in this. The Departments have to come in on this and realise that there is a need, under the Good Friday Agreement, to have special funding arrangements for infrastructural projects because none of them is happening. It is not the Government's fault. We need more movement and support on the North-South Ministerial Council. If that had been the case we might have the Narrow Water Bridge. That is a personal opinion. We were not far short of the money needed. What I am saying is similar to what Deputy Kirk said.