Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for road safety, Deputy Noel Ahern, for being in the House. I welcome this opportunity to speak on the national roads programme and road safety, particularly in light of an extremely serious road accident that occurred in my constituency in Slane, County Meath, on Monday. The accident involved a lorry, delivery truck and seven cars which collided on the main N2 road in the centre of the village. Some seven people and a young baby were brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and, thank God, nobody sustained serious injuries. My thoughts are with those caught up in the incident and the gardaí and emergency services who performed wonderful work on the day. However, this accident highlights yet again the need for a review of road safety on the N2 and in particular the urgent need for the NRA and the Minister to proceed with a bypass of Slane.

It is unfortunate that yet again the front page headlines of the Meath Chronicle describe an accident in Slane. I have another newspaper article from 1 September 2002 whose headline is: "Yet another road accident in Slane." As most people know, Slane is an elegant hillside village of outstanding natural beauty overlooking the Boyne. Many of the problems, although not all of them and not those this week, are caused by the N2 bridge over the River Boyne. This is a very historic village, proud to be associated with Francis Ledwidge and many other people from St. Erc down through the ages. However, over the past 40 years Slane has become choked with heavy traffic and this affects the social, community and commercial life of the village. More than 20 people have lost their lives at Slane bridge. There are accidents there on a regular basis. There was an accident on Monday in the centre of the village and only a few weeks ago there was another accident at the bridge. Accidents happen all the time and there will be more. I am glad I am speaking today in the absence of deaths or serious injuries there this week.

Residents and I have been in regular contact with the NRA and the Minister for Transport to ensure that the Slane bypass progresses. However, residents are not entirely happy with progress on the issue. The NRA has kept in touch with me on the issue and it has completed some studies and reviews, but it is time for shovels, spades, JCBs and earth movers to get this job under way. The argument in favour of it is utterly compelling. According to the census, people in my constituency are more likely than people anywhere else to own a car and to use it for daily commuting. That is a fact. This has clear implications for transport provision and infrastructure in the community. While that shows the need for even more public transport than we have, it has implications for road safety. Meath has the fastest growing population of any county outside Dublin. It has grown by more than 22% in the past seven years.

When complete, the Slane bypass would enable motorists to bypass Slane and also remove rat-running traffic from surrounding county roads. However, the M1 connects very conveniently to Ardee for traffic which needs to go north of Ardee up to County Monaghan and beyond, but that traffic does not use the M1. There are issues for the NRA and Meath County Council to discuss outside this Chamber and I would like the Minister to bring that to their attention. There are arguments to ban lorries from the village at certain times of the day and the Minister may refer that to the NRA because that is an issue for it.

A large amount of money has been allocated for roads, as has just been discussed, and it is very important to keep building and planning our roads with the primary objective of reducing carnage, preventing accidents and allowing communities such as Slane to grow, prosper and celebrate, and to develop the important heritage they have in that village.

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