Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the final few seconds available to me, I wish to ask about something else. I do not know if Mr. Walsh is familiar with the town of Stamullen in County Meath. I am interested in his perspective on planning and his first request that there be an alignment of stakeholders. Meath County Council, as the local planning authority, wants to deliver a link road at junction 7 on the M1 for the growing community in Stamullen. The majority of people in that community want a link road. People are being forced to take a circuitous route to the motorway. Three planning applications have been granted by the council but appealed to An Bord Pleanála by, among others, TII. As with everything, there is not a uniform perspective in the local community. What is TII's position on the link road? To the local authority and many people, it makes sense from a climate perspective, a connectivity perspective and a public transport perspective to link up with the motorway. In its submissions, TII makes an argument about overall transport infrastructure policy, but it seems that we do not have an alignment of stakeholders and the necessary conversations. TII points to the need for an assessment of the likely implications of the link road on the existing junctions and transport movements. That is fair enough, but the relevant stakeholders – TII, Meath County Council and prospective developers – do not seem to be talking to one another in whatever safe way they have those conversations.