Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our witnesses from TII to the committee and thank them for their presentation.

My reading of this presentation sets off alarm bells. TII's role, obviously, is critical at a time when we need to enhance and improve our infrastructure. The improvement of this obviously contributes to the growth of the economy. Transport Infrastructure Ireland outlined some serious issues for us here today. The reality is that we have a national development plan which is fully funded and is in place on paper and in theory, but the stark fact is that the implementation of this plan is obstructed and delayed for a variety of reasons which TII set out here. I find it is disturbing to see that many projects are held up for legal reasons and due to the planning and regulatory process, and for reform of public works contracts. I find TII's closing remarks and the recommendations it is making to be precise, logical and sensible. Whatever this committee has to do to bring this to the attention of Government and to get action on it has to be an absolute priority for us.

There are four steps outlined here that should be and need to be taken. We must put the committee's weight behind this to get responses. I know what it is like to make presentations to the Departments, to play volleyball with them and not to make progress, but we are at a critical point and we simply must resolve some of these outstanding issues.

I live in the mid-west. Many of my constituents in Tipperary have been greatly impacted by the collapse of Roadbridge and its going into receivership. It has been a devastating blow to the workforce, their families and the communities in which they live. Then we have the knock-on effect on so many subcontractors, which run the serious risk of going out of business as a result of this. The contracts that are in place must be changed. The reality of modern-day commercial life is that it changes every day. We cannot expect contractors to take all the risk. As the witnesses outlined, the reality is that the contractors will not be there any more. The system itself will break down because contractors determine competitiveness. If a contract becomes so binding, so tight and so inflexible, it does not pay the contractor to take the risk. As a result, instead of there being five or six competing for a job, there will be one or two, or none, and that holds up everything. We need to address that.

Can the witnesses give me an update on the N24 to Limerick Junction? We have on several occasions had discussions with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about this and he has been very favourably disposed to the provision of a bypass for Tipperary town. It is part of the Town Centre First policy. We have made huge progress and enormous strides to get this in place. We got a commitment from the Minister that this would be prioritised as part of the new N24 dual carriageway and that, effectively, it would start in Tipperary and work its way to Limerick Junction and down to Cahir. We recently had a meeting with the Minister about the N24 from Waterford to Cahir. As public representatives, we were happy that the technical advisers had been appointed to phases 1 to 4, inclusive, of that project, but my immediate priority today is to find out what progress has been made on the N24 Cahir to Limerick Junction project. Route options, we were told, would be available in March. Can Mr. Walsh or Mr. O'Neill say when we can expect the preferred route option to be announced?

How many projects are impacted at the moment by Roadbridge's being in receivership? How many jobs are held up and how many can progress? I know that the witnesses are restricted in what they can say, but, in a general sense, what are the implications of this for TII?