Mr. Dan Kelly:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it again today.

The A5 forms part of the strategic road network between Derry, Donegal and Dublin. It is one of the main arteries for the Northern Ireland economy, linking towns, cities, air and sea ports and its development would help boost industry and commerce as well as facilitating tourist travel. It remains, however, a single carriageway unfit for purpose and operating significantly beyond capacity. The A5 western transport corridor project aims to develop 86 km of dual carriageway from Aughnacloy on the Tyrone-Monaghan border to New Buildings just outside Derry.

An agreement was reached between the two Governments that the project would be joint funded with approximately £400 million coming from each. After our last meeting with the committee in 2012 the Minister for Regional Development went on to issue the direction and vesting orders for two sections of the route, from New Buildings to north of Strabane and from south Omagh to Ballygawley. In the interim, however, opponents of the A5 dual carriageway project sought a judicial review of the decision to proceed with the project entering 12 challenges. The judge quashed 11 of these challenges but upheld the twelfth, relating to appropriate environmental assessments.

The implementation of the A5 project has been delayed while the Department for Regional Development resolves the technical issue raised by the judicial challenge. Four reports have been developed to assess any impacts and all designated environmentally sensitive sites, of which there are nine, in the vicinity of the scheme and, where appropriate, to introduce mitigation measures. The reports indicate that with proposed mitigations the scheme will not have an impact on the functional habitat in its vicinity. It is not an environmental challenge that is being made, it is a question of procedure around the technicalities.

A public consultation exercise on three of these reports commenced on 30 April of this year and concluded on 13 June. The Department has received several representations which are being considered. The fourth report on the Tully bog special area of conservation is not finished because the study is being carried out over the summer. It is expected it will be published for public consultation by the end of the summer.

The Department of Regional Development in the North is also reviewing the environmental statement for the full length of the scheme from New Buildings to Aughnacloy, as well as the draft vesting and direction orders, and it is envisaged that the updated environmental statement, together with the draft direction and vesting orders, will be published for comment at the end of this year. A public exhibition is also likely and should coincide with these publications. The need for any further public inquiry will then be determined following careful consideration of the representations and any level of objection received in response to the public consultations.

It would seem that a public inquiry, if deemed necessary, would take place towards late spring or early summer of next year.

The next slide deals with why the Dublin-Derry-Donegal route is a priority. I hope I am preaching to the converted. The north-west region of Ireland, with a population of approximately 500,000, needs to be connected to the strategic road network. That is fundamental. I am not one to boast, but there is a wealth of latent potential in the region - including its people, business, economy, tourism and culture - which could be brought to fruition given the proper infrastructure.

As Councillor Campbell has outlined, the region as a whole is entirely served by single carriageway rural roads making journey times unpredictable, but predictably slow. Journey time certainty would make the region more attractive to inward investment, dramatically improving economic performance and growth to bring the region into line with the rest of the country. Economic productivity in the north west lags behind the national average. There is a lower share of high value economic sectors and a greater dependence on manufacturing and construction jobs in the region, which has been badly impacted by the economic downturn.

Derry, the North's second largest city - and the fourth largest city on the island - is not served by the motorway network link. There is no real link into the north west except for the single line connection between Derry and Belfast. As members of the committee will be aware, the air link between Derry and Dublin has recently been terminated.

I do not need to remind the committee of the high levels of deprivation and unemployment that can afflict the region. Moving to slide No. 10, statistics for this year show that Derry has the highest, and Strabane the second highest, claimant rates in Northern Ireland at 8.2% and 7.3% respectively. The Northern Ireland average is 4.7%. Derry and Strabane also suffer from some of the highest unemployment rates in the North, significantly above the 2013 average of 29.5%. At 34.2%, Derry is the second highest, while Strabane is the fifth highest with a rate of 30.2%.

Across the Border the situation is no different. Donegal has consistently demonstrated some of the highest levels of unemployment. According to the 2011 census, Donegal had an unemployment rate of 26.2% which is the highest in the country - a position it has maintained since 2006. It is worth noting that the State's unemployment figure is 19%. It is still too high, but is considerably less than the north west. The results of the 2011 census, reported in July 2012, also show that Donegal has a youth employment rate of 49% which is second only to Limerick.

The historic deficit in strategic road investment in the region must be addressed in terms of equality for the north-west. The A5 route currently operates significantly above capacity for a single carriageway, with daily traffic volumes more appropriate for a dual carriageway. There are currently just under 1,400 private access junctions along the existing A5 with the implications that has for road safety. I do not need to remind the committee that collision rates on rural two-lane roads are more than double those on dual carriageways. We have had a significant number of deaths in collisions on those routes in recent times.

As regards access to services, communities living in the north west have to travel greater distances to key services such as hospitals, life-saving services provided by acute hospitals, and medical centres of excellence. People throughout the north west have to travel significantly longer distances to access these services in Dublin and Belfast. As members of the committee will be aware, these impact on the golden hour during which these people need to be treated.

Young people and students have to travel to access educational establishments and training facilities to enable them to compete on an equal basis for employment opportunities. This is exacerbated by the poor roads network and a lack of access to public transport. The A5's links to the N2 and N14 are essential to ensure connectivity and equality of opportunity for these communities.

Moving to the next slide, I will discuss why the development of road infrastructure continues to be a priority in terms of opportunities and costs. The development of a linkage from the north west to the motorway network will undoubtedly have long-term consequences for the region and its communities in improving economic development, promoting the tourism industry, and the ability to attract foreign direct investment, as well as supporting home-grown indigenous business and enterprises.

Tourism is a major growth industry particularly in rural areas. Reliable and safe access routes into the north west are vital to ensure that the potential of the region is accessed and maximised. The delivery of the Derry-Donegal-Dublin strategic route is vital to maximise the benefit of European funding and to build the prosperity of the region, which will build and consolidate the peace.

For example, the A5 scheme's detailed appraisal confirms its economic worth, including an estimate of 260 permanent new jobs and €180 million in wider business efficiencies. Those figures have been superseded by a report in 2013 that was requisitioned by the UK Business Secretary in London.

The progression of this vision for roads infrastructure will greatly boost the construction industry, which is one of the key employment sectors on this island. As well as being a positive boost to the sector it would also reduce the cost to the Government in terms of employment and other social benefits.

I am getting to the nub of the question of why we are here again today and what we are asking the committee to do. In essence, we are asking members of the committee to become champions for the project. The completion of the A5 dual-carriageway is part of the outworking of the Good Friday Agreement. We are here to ask the joint committee's members to become champions of the project. We want them to advocate the A5 as a strategic priority with the Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the British Government, the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council.

We ask members of the joint committee to use their influence, both individually and collectively, to ensure that construction of the dual-carriageway connection to the north west is government policy in both jurisdictions and that it remains a key strategic priority for the committee in future.

We also ask the joint committee to urge the North-South Ministerial Council to use the window of opportunity in the next 12 to 15 months to develop a sound funding and implementation plan for the project in its entirety. Indeed, we ask the committee to ensure that the A5 dual-carriageway project, and the phased development of the N2 and N14, are included in the next comprehensive spending review for the Northern Ireland Executive and in the next capital expenditure programme of the Irish Government. We further ask that the Dublin-Derry-Donegal strategic route is included in any recovery programme being developed.