James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As per the request from the Chairman, I confirm that I am in the Leinster House complex. I thank Ms Graham and Mr. Walsh for their opening statements. I have a great deal to say to both of them, but it is probably important that I commence with my questions to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, regarding the review of the national development plan.

I represent the constituency of Cork East, which is a large geographical area in Cork county. From the point of view of the current national development plan, we were very badly let down in terms of the level of investment in Cork county as a whole and in the focus it received when this document was being drawn up. I say this in the context that the national development plan excludes the upgrade of the N25 road between Cork city and Waterford city. I am currently dealing with serious congestion issues at Castlemartyr village in east Cork and at Killeagh, where in excess of 20,000 vehicles per day are travelling down the main streets, in particular in Castlemartyr village, and multiple metres of tailbacks running out of that village. This needs to be addressed. This should have been done long ago and it is now a major political priority for me. It is a significant project that needs to happen under the review of the NDP. It should be included as a white box scheme when the new national development plan is being finalised.

From the perspective of the transport of goods and services, the Rosslare connection is becoming increasingly important for goods and services heading to the Continent via Rosslare to Europe. We must prioritise the upgrade of the corridor along the south of the country. In terms of economic development, Waterford county and some parts of east Cork, in particular Youghal, are economically disadvantaged areas. Prioritising this particular region of Ireland should be more important than some of the projects TII has prioritised up to now. There has been significant investment in the constituencies of Wexford while projects such as the upgrade of the N25 at Castlemartyr and Killeagh and the north ring road in Cork were shelved. This is not good enough. We must work to address these issues as soon as possible. These are critically important projects. I would like increased focus on Cork county. It is deserving of that focus.

Another issue worth highlighting is the enormous efforts of Cork County Council, one of the largest local authorities in the country, in regard to the upgrade of the road on and off Cobh island - Great Island - where the connecting road infrastructure is below average. Although there is a rail connection and an excellent bus service, private and public, it cannot be denied that road access to Cobh is significantly underdeveloped and over capacity. It is being restrained by very old road infrastructure, particularly the bridge at Belvelly. Unfortunately, the local authority is not in a position to pay for the upgrade of that road which is expected to come in at approximately €100 million. The council is seeking the reclassification of this road as a national road. The top priorities in Cork for the local authority from a roads point of view is the addressing of these issues, which are matters for TII. They cannot be done by the local authority because of the cost.

Even if one looks at the schemes that are available in terms of giving funding to local authorities to deal with an issue such as a new bridge at Belvelly and upgrading the Cobh access road, the schemes that are usually available come in at around €60 million to €100 million for the entire country, but that individual scheme will require about €100 million overall. It shows there is a lot of scope for improvement in terms of the interaction between Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and local authorities where there is a requirement for new national roads or roads classification, which is quite important.

I thank Ms Graham for her attendance. She is probably highly aware of who I am at this point from my work on raising the issues in regard to Expressway inadequacies and the National Transport Authority’s role in regard to subsidised bus routes and how the pricing structures are completely out of balance, which I highlighted in particular with reference to Youghal town some time ago through Deputy MacSharry. I have to say I am not satisfied with the current subsidised bus routes under the control of the NTA in Cork. I am thinking of areas like the Jack Lynch tunnel and the south ring road in Cork, densely populated areas around Mahon, Cork University Hospital and the universities, for example, and the employment hubs at Ringaskiddy, and how they are connected up to major residential towns throughout County Cork. It has to be said that very little is being done to address the particular opportunity to cut down on traffic congestion on the South Ring Road by allowing metropolitan areas like Carrigtwohill, Glounthaune, Midleton and Fermoy, and perhaps Mitchelstown as well, to use public transport services to access parts of the Cork South-Central constituency at places like Mahon Point and other employment hubs, retail hubs and residential hubs, as well as education. That is a very important issue in Cork that has not been addressed and it is causing havoc on the South Ring Road.

The consequence, of course, is that TII is spending an extraordinarily large amount of money on upgrading the Dunkettle interchange and the Jack Lynch tunnel. We need to see an integrated transport service, which is important. Otherwise, we will only end up in a similar situation in another two decades when the Dunkettle interchange is finally completed, which will be a good thing for the county, but it could be over capacity at some point in the future. I am strongly of the view that we have to prioritise this.

With regard to other projects that need consideration from the NTA, one is expanding the green zone fare area around Cork County. Cork is the second largest city in the Republic.