Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Estimates for Public Services 2018
Estimates for Public Services 2018
Votes 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)

9:30 am

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The third issue is an even more local one. I do not expect the Minister to be aware of it but I want him to become aware of it. It is included in the national development plan and it is a matter of public expenditure. On page 49 of the national development plan, it is stated, "The following regional and local roads will be progressed over the course of the National Development Plan ... Carrigaline Western Distributor Road". When I was on the county council over a decade ago, we passed the Part 8 planning for that particular project. In 2010, the project was about to collapse completely. I intervened directly with the then Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, to ensure that funding would be provided to complete the compulsory purchase order, CPO, process. Mr. Dempsey gave a commitment to provide the funding. The Department provided 50% of the funding. The council came up with the rest. The land has now been secured. Later this year, the detailed design of that particular project will be completed. Planning is in place. The CPO has been completed. Detailed design will be done later this year. Carrigaline is a town of approximately 17,000 people. It is choking with traffic. There is a residential development under way across the road from where I live. Three hundred houses with planning permission are being built. Ultimately, there will be approximately 800 houses. The Tánaiste lives in the town. He will be well aware of this issue. I was glad to see the project included in the national development plan, but I got a parliamentary reply from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, in which he states, "My Department is, however, liaising with Cork County Council with a view to positioning the project for development in the post 2021 period." It is all very fine for this to be in the national development plan, but the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is saying, "Come back to me in 2022 or beyond". He is saying post-2021. That is not good enough. That project is shovel ready. I do not expect a direct answer from the Minister. The project is included in the national development plan. I am asking him to examine it, discuss it with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and deliver it.

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