Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 February 2022

Public Accounts Committee

Transport Infrastructure Ireland: Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. However, there has been a substantial shift in funding with a greater emphasis being put on active travel. I get that but there is a balance as well because we must get goods to and from ports, people have to get to work and there are long distances as well.

I raise the N80 bypass at Mountmellick. By the way, the Maidenhead work is complete. That was a good job. That was going on for a long time. On Mountmellick, two routes were proposed back in the 2000s. One was a very long one that started back way out in Derrycloney and went a long way cross-country. It was too long. Then there was a very short one that came in over the bridge into Irishtown in Mountmellick. However, it cut across through the car park of a restaurant and a business. It was not good. It had a right-angle junction on it. That was too short. TII has come up with another route which is better. This is what I wanted to ask about. The feasibility studies have been done and I am concerned there may be a move away from providing those relief roads. This relief road shortens the journey distance and the journey time. It is not getting traction in the sense of getting the priority it needs. Mountmellick itself is congested with trucks. There is a junction at Glanbia with Pearse Street where the road comes into the centre of town. There are trucks trying to manoeuvre around that from both directions. It is very difficult. They are travelling up and down narrow streets. It is a very difficult situation.

I refer to Rosslare Europort and Brexit, which Deputy Verona Murphy obviously will have a special interest in. Instead of a lot of west of Ireland and midlands freight going to Dublin, it is now travelling down the N80 through Mountmellick and on to Rosslare. I live further down on the N80 and have no complaints about that. Does Mr. Walsh believe that now needs greater priority in terms of ramping up the need for that because this will go on forever? The feasibility study will be out of date and so will the preferred route. There is talk of a second bypass linking the road over to the Portarlington and Emo road. That is important within the greater scheme of things but it is the N80 project that is really the big deal for shortening journeys and getting traffic, especially HGVs, out of the town centre. Would Mr. Walsh see this as a major priority when it comes to carbon reduction and also trying to deal with the impact of Brexit and the greater importance Rosslare Europort now has? That is my question.

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