Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their response.

I fully accept and recognise that my initial response is disappointing because I know how important this project is locally and I accept the importance of it nationally. On job creation, I am very much aware of the investment that Kerry Group is making in the millennium park which, I understand, will employ between 350 and 400 staff. They emphasised to me directly that they believe the development of better access would be important to ensure their investment pays out and delivers what they want to the economy.

I have a number of points on what my colleagues have put to me. First, I have been informed that were we to go ahead with the interchange, it would increase traffic flow within the vicinity by approximately 8%. Deputy Heydon correctly stated that a project such as the flyover that has been opened beyond the Red Cow can shift traffic congestion elsewhere which feeds into the concern he has with this project. The current analysis of the projects to which the Deputies refer is that were we to go ahead with them it would be highly advisable to progress the three of them together to ensure we do not end up shifting a problem from one part of their community to another. In order for that to go ahead, the overall cost of that project is €110 million. While they acknowledged that there could be other funding opportunities out there and I recognise that NAMA indicated it would be willing to make a contribution, there are still many tens of millions of euro that I would be required to contribute to this project.

I emphasise how important I know the project to be in order to support economic development within the Deputies' region. While I cannot give them a commitment now that it can be progressed because the Government simply does not have the funding to do it, I am aware that this project has received planning permission. Despite all the competing demands that I must manage, I will continue to see if I can find any opportunity to progress projects that are economically and socially important.

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