Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Will the Minister provide more detail on the €40 million from the national roads projects? From what projects was the money saved? I am familiar with a number of national road projects which are shovel-ready, with some in my constituency. I do not want to be parochial but the council is having difficulty having safety works carried out. Recently there was an accident, which could have been more serious, when a car toppled from the road into a water course. I understand it has not been possible to get funding from the National Roads Authority, NRA, because it did not have the appropriate funding identified early in the budgeting process.

I welcome funding being made available more quickly to shovel-ready projects but there are some within the national roads programme which could have received some of that money. I am somewhat confused that the NRA had money lying around and was not able to allocate it. That seems to have been the position.

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