Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

While the Minister of State might not be familiar with this issue, it is a very important issue. Fingal County Council and all of us in the area are seeking approval from the Departments of Transport and Finance to allow the council to borrow in order to complete the project to build the N2 to N3 link road. The area, which is heavily congested with traffic, is very important to Ireland's economy as a whole because it is home to IBM Ireland, Bristol Myers Squibb, PayPal and various other companies.

The M3 from Kells to Clonee and the M50 project are now nearing completion. When that happens people will be able to drive from Kells on the M3 along the M50 and go as far as Wexford or from Belfast on the M1, along the M50 and all the way to Navan, and only meet traffic lights at one point. That one point is this area of road that is not being upgraded between the M50 and Clonee, on the N3 where it goes through Blanchardstown. We will essentially have an entirely new toll bridge. All the traffic from Kells to Belfast and from Wexford to Navan will be stopped at these two sets of traffic lights. It is similar to the situation that existed at the toll bridge and at the Red Cow interchange, which were not sorted out for a long time. We are now recreating that problem all over again. As is often the case we put in new road infrastructure which is necessary but do not figure out what will be the impact at the bit of the road down the line or up the line. Again this is happening and I want the Government to be aware of it so that it can be held responsible for it if it fails to act in coming months.

In the medium term we need the upgrading of that section of the N3, which will be the only bit that will not be motorway between Kells and Wexford or between Belfast and Navan. The council needs to be given approval to build the N2 to N3 link road, which will take pressure off that section of the road in the short term. It is an economically viable project which will pay for itself from development levies. It is also an economically important project because of the area it serves, which is the enormous industrial area north of Blanchardstown that accommodates so many major businesses, including IBM, Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbott, Alcatel-Lucent and PayPal. I want to notify the Government that this issue is going to occur so that it is aware of it and can be held responsible if it does not act, but more importantly so that it can now make plans first by providing funding for the link road and then by agreeing to upgrade that section of the N3 without too much delay.

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