Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I concur with the comments made by my colleague, Deputy Moynihan, and thank the Minister for his response. As a Deputy for the county of Kerry and working with my colleague across the border in Cork, I am pleading with the Minister to do what he can to prioritise this project, which is badly needed. What it has going for it is that it is almost shovel-ready. There is no reason this should be delayed any further.

While I welcome the clarification of a possible 2020 date as distinct from the 2022 date that was bandied around earlier, and with some point-scoring from certain quarters earlier in the week and last week, it is still too far away. It is four years away and there is no reason we should have to wait four years for this. There is no reason this cannot start in 2017. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Primarily, my fear is lives will be lost but the significant socioeconomic boost that this will give the region cannot be overlooked. What this will do for the south-west region is that it will open up a whole world of possibilities on both the Cork and Kerry sides. I urge the Minister to go back to TII and ask its representatives to find a way to move this forward.

See this speech in context