Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have some queries and the TII witnesses have agreed to take them and give me written responses. I will give a flavour of them because there are quite a few. Councillors, particularly in areas of great expansion and large population growth, are looking at the road network. For example, near me, in Sandyford, Stepaside, Ballyogan and Kiltiernan, there is lots of stuff happening. This does not necessarily relate to national roads but the area has major population growth. Capacity on the green line, which again is a matter for the NTA, was queried by Councillor Jim O'Leary in Dundrum and Councillor Tommy Murphy in Glencullen. Councillor Racheal Batten asked about the metro.

Equally, Councillor Sean Drew asked about pedestrian crossings on the N52. Pedestrian crossings are something TII deals with, even though we tend to think of national roads as big wide motorways with no pedestrians but there are main roads through the centres of many villages and towns.

Train capacity and metro are not the responsibility of TII but many roads were raised with me such as the N81 Tallaght to Hollywood Cross, raised by Councillor Edward Timmins in Wicklow. Councillor Shane Talty raised the junction at Blake's Corner in Ennistymon. Councillor Rita McInerney raised that there are not enough spines off the M18. Councillor Eddie Fitzpatrick in County Offaly raised the N52 link between the N4 and the N6. Councillor Seamus Butler in County Longford raised an ongoing concern about the N4 prioritisation from Mullingar to the County Leitrim border, with more than 20 deaths in the past 15 years. Perhaps TII can comment on them.

The Knockcroghery bypass was raised by Councillor John Keogh in County Roscommon. Councillor Shane P. O'Reilly raised parking around the N3 and that there is not enough provision for people who are trying to car-pool and so on. Councillor Donagh Killilea in Galway raised the Tuam to Sligo route following the success of the Limerick to Tuam part of the M17. Councillor Brendan Mulroy in County Mayo raised pedestrian crossings in Newport - it is a national road. Councillor Mark Duffy in County Mayo raised the improvement between Ballina and Foxford and Swinford. I know the road well as one of my grandparents came from Swinford and another came from Ballina. It is an area I know well.

We tend to think of some of the motorway networks as being to the southern half of the country but I had five or six queries concerning County Donegal from councillors Donal Kelly, Ciaran Brogan, Michael McBride, Michael McClafferty who all asked about the TEN-T project priority route for Donegal. Councillor Ger Frisby in County Kilkenny asked about the N25 Waterford to New Ross section. Councillor Pat Dunphy asked about the N24 Waterford to Cahir project. Councillor Jim Ryan asked about the bypass in Thurles about which Deputy Lowry spoke. Councillor Michael Cahill asked about the Ring of Kerry and said it is not sufficient for the level of traffic. There are a lot of tour buses on that road. It is a narrow, tricky road. I also had a query from Councillor Mikey Sheehy in County Kerry about greenways. I had not been getting a lot of greenway queries. He also asked about the N86 Tralee to Dingle section. He said it is not in a great condition for the number of tourists it takes. A concept which Deputy Crowe has raised before - he may not raise it again - is the issue about the N71 past Skibbereen and TII objecting to almost every house application on a national road. I had another query from County Donegal from, I think, Councillor Michael McClafferty, about a low volume road. They feel it should be judged differently in terms of TII objecting to all housing on a national road and that a one-size-fits-all approach does not necessarily cover it. I had another query from Councillor Liam Madden in County Cork about the M20 and all the issues that go with it.

Separate from that, it was raised recently that TII seems to have bought up a lot of houses for CPOs, which are perhaps empty at the moment. There is a question about whether they could be used in the short term. I do not know how many there are. There are road safety issues in how much TII liaises with the Road Safety Authority in prioritising accidents. There is also the question of the tolls on the M50. Many people are not paying the tolls and perhaps are getting away with it. There is a lot in that. We have another two hours in the sitting. We will have a second and third slot.