Mr. Gareth Llewellyn:

Nine days into my role, the Senator will be surprised to know that I do not know an inordinate amount about the N20. I know that the road from Limerick to Cork, as he rightly says, has some serious safety issues. TII has a duty to provide a safe and efficient road network, so road safety is a core part of what it does. As I understand it, the upgrade from the N20 to the M20 is in the NDP, so it is a project that will go ahead. I understand that the preferred route will be known in the early part of next year and the business case will follow thereafter. Clearly, if there is anything TII believes needs to happen in the short term to improve serious safety issues, no doubt it will look at that, but I have not investigated that so far.