Ms Joan Martin:

Yes, on a point of law. We are always very careful to try to ensure we do everything correctly in accordance with the law. The process takes about four months, depending on the dates and times of council meetings and so on. The Chairman knows how it works. We always try to do things in parallel. As Transport Infrastructure Ireland pointed out, there are ongoing contracts and the diversion work will continue. They are all moving ahead; therefore, the scheme is progressing insofar as it can. As soon as we know the option chosen, work will commence on the various plans and drawings, the detailed design and contract documents. All of that work will be done in parallel.

Once we know the option that is being chosen for the junctions, if that is where we are going, we will immediately seek to reach agreement on the acquisition of the land. We would only use a CPO if we needed to but even when we go into the CPO process and publish it, if agreement is reached with the landowner before the process closes, then An Bord Pleanála can immediately confirm it. We would be very quickly in a position to acquire the land and move forward. In many ways, it is a question of how long is a piece of string but we have a lot of staff in TII and in the council who are very familiar with all these processes. We will be streamlining and working in parallel to minimise the delays. Nobody is more disappointed than the engineers in Louth County Council, some of whom have worked on this scheme from day one. Indeed, I was involved with it myself at the very start, as a director in the roads section. We are as anxious as everybody else to see it proceed and we will leave no stone unturned to streamline and speed up the process as much as we can. With a fair wind and a bit of luck, we could be out to tender by the end of 2020, if not a little before then, although I would not like to be over optimistic about it and make promises that we cannot fulfil. We will certainly move it along in parallel and as quickly as possible. I assure everybody of our ongoing commitment to doing that. It is a high priority for Louth County Council and a strategic objective of our plan as well as of the national plan. It was a major step to get it included in the national plan and that copper fastens its position, status and funding, insofar as anything can ever be copper fastened.