Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I apologise to the House for the inability of the Minister for Transport to attend this Adjournment debate. The planning, design and implementation of national road improvement projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority and the local authority concerned, in this case Roscommon County Council. The NRA published the specification for road works in 2000 and the NRA design manual for roads and bridges in 2001. The NRA design manual is monitored on an ongoing basis and updated regularly, as required. The specification and design manual are applicable for all new works carried out on the national primary and secondary routes by local authorities.

The works on the N5 in County Roscommon between Scramoge and Ballaghaderreen consisted basically of a pavement rehabilitation project and these works are not subject to the strict design manual for roads and bridges requirements which are reserved for new road schemes on greenfield sites. The works are subject to a safety audit. Over the past four years, extensive works on the N5 between Scramoge and Ballaghaderreen have been carried out. The pavement was in very poor condition and a five-year pavement rehabilitation programme was developed and agreed between the NRA and Roscommon County Council. The works had to be carried out between the fence lines due to the archaeological sensitivity of the area especially in the vicinity of Rathcroghan. The NRA has provided funding for 2005 of the order of €200,000 to advance the N5 strategic corridor study on the Ballaghaderreen to Strokestown route. It is anticipated that the study will be completed by the end of the year. In addition to the works outlined, the 8 km N5 Strokestown to Bumlin Bridge project opened to traffic in 2004 to replace a single carriageway which had a poor alignment and substandard visibility.

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