Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In response to the reply from the Minister of State, has any initiative been taken by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to get an emergency discussion forum going between the various local authorities and the two Government Departments, north and south of the Border to determine whether a suitable package can be put together to finalise the project? It would be a huge loss if this project does not go ahead. Getting capital spending into that part of the country has been a huge challenge and not much public money has ever been spent in the area. Given the hugely symbolic importance of the project in the context of North-South relations, it would be catastrophic if it were not to go ahead.

The other possibility, in the event of it not being possible to put a package together at this point in time, is to make contact with the SEUPB with a view to extending the period during which the €17.4 million in funding is available from the INTERREG IVA fund. Has the Department determined whether it would be possible to extend the period to allow for a change in economic fortunes to facilitate the approval of the project at some not too distant point in the future? A number of issues must be considered. The reality is that if the INTERREG money is not drawn down now for the project, the project is effectively gone for the foreseeable future. While nobody can look into a crystal ball and predict what will happen in five or ten years time, I greatly fear that the project will be put on the back burner and will not proceed. Tourism in what has been described as the Killarney of the north, the Cooley mountains and Mourne mountains area, which is a beautiful part of the country, is seriously under-developed primarily because the connection between the two areas is not as it should be. The bridge would fill that gap and would be of huge economic benefit. I exhort the Minister of State to go back to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and tell him that we need the bridge.

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