Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for that compliment. I am looking forward to it. That compliment was a gift from him.

I left Boyle, which is in the north west, at 5.30 this morning. If I drive from Galway, Belfast or from any other part of the island, there is access to a motorway or a dual carriageway. In the case of the N4, N5, N3 and N2 there is no motorway extending beyond Mullingar or Kinnegad. What will be done about that? There is a dual carriageway in Leitrim but we want to open up the north west, especially in the context of cross-Border co-operation. I welcome the funding for the A5. When I left Boyle at 5.30 a.m. the traffic was not bad, but if one travels that road after 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., it takes more than an hour to travel from Boyle to Mullingar. It is an issue if we want to open up access to the west. What is happening about that?

We have spoken about cross-Border routes and I want to focus on the N16 between the west and Belfast. Other speakers mentioned other routes which are also important. The N16 routes comprises 10 km in Sligo, 30 km in Leitrim and 7 km in Cavan. Some work has been done on it but it needs to be upgraded in the context of cross-Border co-operation. I am concerned that no works are taking place on the A4 between Belcoo and Enniskillen. It could take an hour to drive through Enniskillen.

I was Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and, with respect to the Good Friday Agreement and cross-Border co-operation, it involves not only the North and the South but also the east and the west. More needs to be done there. I am not blaming the witnesses but I am seeking their views on this and it probably also would involve a political decision on both sides.

We need to consider the upgrading of national secondary routes. No money has been spent on national secondary routes during the past 25 years. I can understand that the focus was on upgrading all the national primary routes. Many of those have been upgraded and we now need to consider the national secondary routes. I will be parochial again and point to some works that have been done on the N61 between Boyle and the county town of Roscommon. It links the N4 to the N5 and to the N6. It makes sense to link Roscommon town with Athlone and to link Boyle with Roscommon town. It makes sense to have that arterial link from the north west to the south east. The witnesses may contradict me on that, and I do not mind if they do, but it is an aspect we need examine. Instead of a few million euro being provided to remove one or two bends, we need to consider upgrading the national secondary routes.

I wish to ask about a bypass project. There is major traffic congestion in Carrick-on-Shannon, the county town in Leitrim, at the weekends with people travelling from Sligo to Dublin on a Friday. It could take 45 to 50 minutes to get through Carrick-on-Shannon. With all the rivers and lakes in the area, there is only one route through it. How long will it take for the completion of the proposed bypass around Carrick-on-Shannon, a project which I know is not shovel ready?