Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

He is nearly bordering it.

I do not understand why this question is not grouped with Question No. 54, which deals with more or less the same issue. I drive from Cork to Dublin most weeks. I leave Cork at 10 p.m. and often drive home on a Thursday evening at a similar time. This is not only a serious road safety issue in that there is nowhere to pull in on the motorway between Dublin and Cork once one passes Naas, it is also a danger in terms of being able to refuel as there is only a small number of 24-hour petrol stations close to that route. Nonetheless, the main issue is a road safety one, namely, people falling asleep at the wheel when they should be provided with service stations to get a cup of coffee and fill up on fuel.

This is standard practice with motorway infrastructure in other parts of Europe, certainly in Britain, where there is a very good road safety record, as the Minister will know. It is not good enough for the NRA to state we simply cannot afford to do proceed at present because we do not have the resources. This is something the private sector should and can do but it probably requires a change in the criteria we currently require in terms of all the facilities that must be provided to make a service area viable.

Will the Minister talk to the NRA in regard to redrafting the guidelines in order to attract private sector investment in the provision of service areas on motorways such as the Cork-Dublin motorway?

See this speech in context