Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are planning issues and that is the reason there is an ongoing review by the Attorney General. There have been issues with An Bord Pleanála. We, as public representatives, sometimes must deal with issues that communities are worried about. Let me give as an example of the N53 at Rassan, which is townland located north of Dundalk, County Louth. An oral hearing was meant to take place before the end of the year but there were problems, such as a backlog, in An Bord Pleanála. Whatever work needs to be done should be done because the project needs to go ahead.

I agree with some of my colleagues who mentioned a review of speeds, safety issues and all the rest. We probably need to streamline the whole process because it has become an awful lot of stakeholders talking at each other, whether that is the Department, local authorities, TII and whoever else. I do not expect the Minister of State to deal with all of these issues in the next two minutes but I emphasise that people are worried about the planning process and moneys being released.

Another issue is the Ardee bypass, which is a necessary piece of work. I argue that it has taken a long time for the bypass to happen. There probably should have been a greater element, at an earlier stage, of community consultation and some attempts to rectify the situation. Remedying the matter is difficult to do given the planning system. The planning piece is something that definitely needs to be sorted across the board.