Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 45 and 71 together. As Minister for Transport I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in respect of the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The implementation of individual national road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Act 1993, in conjunction with the relevant local authorities.

Both Transport 21 and the national development plan committed the NRA to carrying out a feasibility study on the orbital route. Earlier this year, the NRA completed an updated feasibility study which built on a 2001 study which considered, in particular, the costs and benefits of such a route. The updated NRA study finds that there is merit in constructing an orbital route linking Drogheda, Navan and Naas. As part of the study, various possible route corridors were examined in detail. A corridor linking Drogheda to Navan to Naas was identified as the optimum route having regard to the policy objectives set out in the various policy documents on the route. There are no plans to extend the route through the Wicklow Mountains to Arklow or Gorey.

Neither Transport 21 nor the national development plan provide any funding for the scheme to be brought through planning and preliminary design or to construction in the period to 2015. The study is under detailed consideration within my Department.

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