Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 November 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 31 - Transport
Chapter 5 - Expenditure on Night Vision Imaging Technology and Training for Search and Rescue
Special Report 113 of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Procurement of Vehicles by the Irish Coast Guard

9:30 am

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

The point I want to raise was referred to earlier by one of my colleagues in the context of the N73. On a national level, I have a very significant problem with TII's annual allocations. In terms of grant allocations for 2021 for national road budgets, page three of the documentation indicates that €484,256,450 is the gross allocation for national road maintenance. The document provides an individual breakdown for projects that will be receiving funding which is excellent in that it enables public representatives to explain to their constituents what is happening in their constituencies. One of these projects, the N73, happens to fall into my constituency in Cork East and I raised it with Mr. Walsh of the TII at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications last week. I have a very significant problem. A sum of €86.99 million was allocated to Cork County Council, of which €1.5 million was allocated in the 2021 budget to progress upgrade works on the N73 near Kildorrery between Mallow and Mitchelstown but when we hit September, the funding disappeared. I want to know where it is gone and I want to know why the €1.5 million is not available. These are questions I asked last week but having looked back at the clip, I did not really get the certainty I want. Perhaps the witnesses could correspond with me on this after the meeting but if they can answer me now, all the better. I want to know why the €1.5 million of the annual funding for Cork County Council of €86.99 million for national road maintenance in 2021 is not available. Why was Cork County Council told it cannot progress after TII, as the agency under the remit of the Department of Transport, told it to advance the process as far as tendering?

This is completely unacceptable. We cannot have State agencies providing funding budgets and then not carrying out the work. It does not give us clarity and makes us, as elected representatives irrespective of party, particularly those of us who are in government, look bad. I do not blame people for giving out. This is something that needs to be fine tuned. I am aware that the funding has been allocated for next year but it still must be approved by the board of TII, which is expected to happen in the second week of December. Before that happens, I want the Secretary General and the relevant official in his Department, whether that be a principal officer or an assistant secretary in charge of roads funding, to have a word with TII about this because it is completely unacceptable. This has to be fine tuned. We cannot have a situation where we are telling local authorities to advance national road plans and then not funding them at the final minute. That is what happened to Cork County Council. That is what happened in north Cork and in my own constituency of Cork East. I ask the witnesses to reply.

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