James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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711. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the motorway from Mullingar to Rooskey in County Longford will be constructed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16397/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. The scale of the reductions in the allocations to the NRA under the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework 2012-2016 means that  I do not expect any major new projects directly funded by the Exchequer  to commence construction in next few years.

As I indicated at the start of the year, the key priority for this year is the protection of the existing investment in road infrastructure as against major new expenditure on road building.