Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a cur roimh na daoine a tháinig anseo inniu. I am very happy to see a fine body of men and one lady here to address this important issue. I live in the Border county of Louth, as does the Chairman, and we have seen the huge benefit of proper interconnectivity in the road network and the huge plus it has been, particularly for the cities of Dundalk and Newry, and how important the bond has been. Connectivity between Donegal and Derry is hugely important to the region. I am fully supportive of what is being done. We are very happy to work with our Ministers in Government if there is any pressure we can put on any of the agencies. We have had much discussion, and if the witnesses wish they can follow up if they identify three or four things we must do. I assure them that from my perspective it will be done.

We are entering into a period of uncertainty given Brexit, and there may not be European funding in the Northern part of the country, which there is at present. How will it impact on the budget from the UK? There are hugely difficult issues for everybody. I hope from our perspective in the South we maximise the importance of this and push it as far as we can as quickly as possible to ensure we complete whatever commitments are required as urgently as we can.

I will take the question on the progress on the link south of Strabane to Letterkenny. That has made progress over the past six months or so. Given the age of the existing design work on the route, it needs to be revisited. As environmental regulations are more stringent now than when the original piece of work was done, a consultant has been appointed recently, funded from TII, to re-examine the route in its entirety from Strabane to Letterkenny, including the relief bridge in Letterkenny and how the crossover piece linking the city of Derry towards Stranorlar and Donegal town. That is progressing at as fast a pace as it can and the work necessary to see that piece closed out, which will bring it to preferred route stage, should take about two years. That is progressing and is funded right now.