Mr. Fred Barry:

I would say to members that their colleagues in the North would probably give them a better picture than I could of the situation for funding North of the Border. I would not have anything to add to that. That leads to Deputy Ellis's question on TEN-T funding and European funding. The TEN-T regulation is a proposed one, which has not been passed, so whatever funding measures come with it will not be there yet. When the regulation goes through, we will see what funding goes with it. To some extent, I am sure it will draw on existing funds, such as the Cohesion Fund and the various other funds already in place, and perhaps direct them towards TEN-T projects. To the extent that there is additional funding, we will flag it internally with the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform and will go from there in making applications for it.

Deputy McLoughlin asked about the Colloney to Castlebaldwin road. That is with the local authorities at the moment and we expect it to be in the hands of An Bord Pleanála by year end. I mentioned earlier that An Bord Pleanála typically takes a year and a half to two years to deal with a scheme. We expect, all going well, to have An Bord Pleanála approval for it in 2015. The question of funding for it to go ahead arises at that stage.

The next work we will do on the N16 will almost certainly be phase two of the work which has been going on this year. It ties in with it and it is a longer section. It is ready to go. That will be the next section. It will not happen unless there is a change in arrangements. It will not happen in 2014 because although it is one of a number of schemes which we have taken through design and planning and is ready to go, it is ready to go when we are in position to do it.

We will talk to Sligo County Council about its realignment scheme. I am not in a position to comment on it more than that. I know the section of road generally, as does Mr. Nolan, but if it is developing a scheme, we will certainly talk to it about it.

The comments I made about the N16 and the N4 related to Senator Comiskey's questions as well. Belturbet is well behind schedule in terms of completion. There have been various difficulties with the scheme, including one of the construction companies, which was part of the consortium to build it, going into administration at an early stage of the construction and so on. There are a lot of issues and disputes there. Most of it is now open to traffic.