Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for that. I did not mean to do so.

I understand what the Deputy is saying, but I come across people putting similar cases for their own areas every day. I am utterly sympathetic to the needs of the Cork area, particularly its need for jobs, but we are working within very serious financial constraints. We would prefer not to be working within financial constraints, and this is a particularly expensive project, as are all roads of this sort. We have to prioritise them, as there is very little money for them before 2019, 2020 and 2021. It would be wrong of me to come to the House today and promise that it will be prioritised or brought forward. In any case, the scheme does not yet have the necessary approvals, though some others in the area do have them. In April this year TII, in conjunction with Cork County Council, held a public consultation into the proposed route and the business case in respect of the project is being finalised for submission to my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Those procedures have to be completed.

While I am sympathetic, the Deputy has to realise that we have a fundamental problem with the roads in this country. The 99,000 km of roads are a huge albatross around our neck, as they have to be maintained. This is massively expensive, and much more money is spent on maintenance than on actual building projects. If the Deputy or other Deputies would like to stop the maintenance and start building, they should say so, but this is a problem that we aim to ameliorate in 2019, 2020 and 2021, when we have great hopes for growth.

We hope to be able to indulge ourselves in capital expenditure of this sort, which is absolutely necessary, but I cannot hold out any promise. I cannot say that if matters improve I shall push for roads and other projects of this sort to be prioritised and brought forward. In the meantime, I will do everything I can to hasten-----

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