Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. There are so many projects at which we need to look. Investing in roads that improve towns and bring bypasses will really bring benefit. I can give two examples. My Department will be directing funding at a local road across Garryvoe that will connect the university with the main national road to Dublin. That is an example of a project that brings real strategic benefit to a local environment. Similarly, Carrick-on-Shannon is exactly the sort of project we need to accelerate as fast as we can because that town is being choked by traffic. It is another complex one because there is quite a significant flooding issue as people come into Carrick-on-Shannon from the eastern side. However, that absolutely needs to be progressed. Those are the sorts of projects we need to advance. There are so many more and that is a difficulty. When we look at all the different ranges of projects, there are approximately €100 billion worth of projects in development and planning.

We have to prioritise and some of the prioritisation should be through bypasses because we can get a lot of bang for our buck by doing 5 km or 10 km bypasses, such as Carrick-on-Shannon, which transform the towns and improves safety and journey times. We can often then look further down the line. There are other examples. Tipperary town is another example of where we could do a bypass and if we are able at a later stage to upgrade a longer length of road, we can do so. We do the bypass first, however. That is where we need to invest.