Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will take the issues in order. Mr. Walsh outlined various projects in his presentation. On page 30, he speaks about the N20. He will probably be aware that it is a project that is very close to my heart. I have campaigned for it for many years. I would like to see "M20/N20" rather than just "N20". There has been a period of public consultation on it. I have been critical that the public consultation to date has not covered the proper modelling. No modelling has been done around safety, costs or travel times. Eight routes were proposed, some of which were upgrades to the existing routes and others that were new routes, including, certainly, from Charleville to Limerick, a maze of routes, many of which make no sense.

My understanding is that the consultation was a non-statutory public consultation. I believe a further consultation is required after the modelling has been done on the routes in respect of safety, travel times and cost, because it created a huge degree of confusion among people living along the routes, both in terms of road and rail. Three rail routes were proposed. Irish Rail has already completed a proposal and is putting in a submission on the upgrading of Limerick Junction to Limerick with a second rail line. Both of the other two proposed routes are in private ownership, one of which crosses virgin territory from Bruree to Killonan, and the other goes along an old line. I ask for a commitment from the TII that there will be another period of public consultation on the M20. I ask Mr. Walsh to go through that. A huge degree of confusion has been created because the modelling was not done prior to the routes being put out for consultation.