Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

I thank the House for giving me the opportunity to deal with this matter in the absence of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has responsibility for overall policy and funding the national roads programme. However, the planning, design and implementation of individual national road projects are matters for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. The N17-Nl8 PPP scheme is approximately 57 km in length and commences at the northern extremity of the N18 Gort to Crusheen scheme and ends in the vicinity of Tuam. It will replace the existing N17 and N18, providing bypasses for the towns of Clarinbridge, Claregalway and Tuam where significant delays frequently occur. Originally there were three separate schemes. The N18 Oranmore to Gort road scheme was approved with modifications by An Bord Pleanála on 6 June 2007. The M17 Galway to Tuam road scheme has been the subject of an An Bord Pleanála oral hearing and the motorway scheme was approved by it on 6 March 2009. The N17 Tuam bypass was approved by An Bord Pleanála in August 2006. A technical advisory consultant was appointed and commenced work in September 2007.

The project will significantly improve safety, reduce journey times, improve connectivity within the western region and significantly assist in the economic development of the Border, midlands and western, BMW, region. The scheme will improve access to Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport at Knock which has been identified as a major infrastructural requirement for sustaining industrial growth in the region. Additionally, the development of a high quality dual carriageway-motorway link between Letterkenny and Waterford is a specific objective of the National Development Plan, NDP, 2007 to 2013 and the proposed N17-N18 PPP scheme represents a part of the proposed network.

The PPP project has been procured as an untolled road scheme with payments by the public sector to be based on an availability-based payment mechanism throughout the operational period. It must be recognised that the payment mechanism obliges the NRA to make availability payments to the PPP company, which gives rise to an ongoing financial commitment annually from 2017 to 2041. As the Deputy is aware, the successful awarding of a major PPP contract involving private funding is challenging at any time but is particularly challenging in current circumstances where the country has been the subject of intervention by the IMF and the European Union. Despite this, every effort will continue to be made to progress this PPP within the timeframe of the current capital programme which runs to 2016.

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