Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The N24 Cahir to Waterford project has been further delayed. We were supposed to get news of the preferred route by quarter 2 of 2023 but that has now been put back to quarter 1 or 2 of 2024. This is unacceptable, especially in light of all of the road deaths and the information Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has given to the Minister for Transport about the number of deaths and serious injuries that will occur on this route. Coupled with that is the fact that the whole area along the proposed routes is sterilised from north of Cahir right down to Waterford city. People living along those four routes, across a wide band, cannot get planning permission for anything, from a henhouse to a dwelling house or a farm building. Everything is held up, including development. What is the delay on this? I know there were difficulties getting funding for consultants to keep going on the project earlier this year. They were supposed to have got the money. Did they get the money or not? This stop-start business on the N24 project from Limerick Junction to Waterford, which is so badly needed, is not acceptable. We have had two or three fatalities on the road already this year. We need to get this on track and also to allow people to live their lives in the areas being studied.

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