John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)

I will come back in now in the interests of saving time. I cannot understand why we do not put more money into the rehabilitation of roads over peat foundations. Essentially, we are throwing good money after bad because of the limited life span. Where the work has been done, it has been exceptionally good and the feedback is very positive. I encourage the NTA to do more in that area.

Colleagues will be familiar with the N52 link road from Tullamore to Kilbeggan. If we take the midlands in general, if I start in Portlaoise today and I go east, I can go 70 km in half an hour. If I want to go 70 km north or directly south of Portlaoise, the same distance will take double the time. We must start a conversation about opening up the midlands because every project we have seen done has been from east to west. We have done nothing through the spine of the midlands. Do the witnesses from the NTA have any thoughts on that or could they look at it?

Organisational structure was mentioned. I would like to see a flowchart of what goes on in regard to safer routes to school and active travel. There seem to be a dozen different steps. If I go to the local authority, it blames the NTA and if I go to the NTA, it blames the local authority. I would like to learn about the flowchart, the estimated timeframe and the pinch points.

I have quickly come to the realisation that we need planning stakeholders at every meeting. Everything seems to be either a planning or legal issue. If we do not get a sense of what is going on, we cannot break down the barriers. I appreciate the forthrightness of the witnesses and ask them to be frank in their response.