Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for funding in regard to the national roads programme.  The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

The project to which the Deputy refers is the N59 Moycullen bypass, which consists of two elements. The first is a 4.5 km single carriageway off-road, greenfield bypass of Moycullen and the second is the online realignment and upgrading of 900 m of the existing N59 on the Galway road into Moycullen. An Bord Pleanála approved the environmental impact statement and the compulsory purchase order for the scheme in 2012, and the project is now at design stage.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the scale of the reductions in the NRA under the infrastructure and capital investment framework 2012-2016 has meant that it has not been possible to progress a range of road development projects.  The key priority has to be the protection of the existing investment in road infrastructure. In that regard, it is not possible to advance the off-road, greenfield bypass aspect of this project at the moment. However, on Tuesday, the Government approved €43 million in additional funding for roads and, as part of that, €3.5 million has been allocated to carry out the online realignment and upgrade part of the project.

Having visited Moycullen with Deputy Kyne last year, I appreciate the importance of this aspect of the bypass works.  I would, of course, like to be in a position to announce funding for the overall project but, unfortunately, that is not possible for the time being.  However, real benefit will accrue to the people of Moycullen from a quality of life and road safety perspective as a result of progressing this particularly important aspect of the scheme.

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