Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

It is not in the plan as it has been removed from it. We need to be sure of the direction we are taking. The last letter I received from the NRA gave no commitment to even making improvements to that road. It said that under the Good Friday Agreement, it was looking at a dualcarriageway from Derry to Dublin, but that will take some time. I plead for moneys to be made available for the project and with Deputy Blaney and others who use that road when travelling from Donegal to back me on the desperate need for improvements on the road before we have a serious accident. In the context of accidents, major question marks must be raised with regard to the way funding was made available under the DBO structure for the Castleblaney bypass, with which there are major difficulties.

Another equally important cross-Border road is the N3 which passes through Cavan, but there has been little progress on the Belturbet bypass. This bypass has been in the pipeline for many years, but I have been told by Cavan County Council personnel that while it is fully sanctioned as far as the legal end is concerned, there is no money available for it. I have no doubt some millions will be made available this year from the NRA towards the purchase of land, but we need to see real progress on the construction of that road. If the peace dividend is to mean anything to those in the Border region, we must have proper road structures put in place immediately.

When a former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, announced the ceasefire, I walked across the floor to him when the House closed to welcome it and suggested that he should at least provide some moneys for the reopening of the Border roads. He did that some weeks later. I make the same suggestion to the Government now. Roads such as the N2 and N3 may not be major thoroughfares in the eyes of the Government, but they are extremely important cross-Border projects that need funding.

See this speech in context