Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, especially rural Deputies, I express full support for this important motion and compliment the Deputies who tabled it. The 673 regional roads extending to more than 13,000 km make up only 15% of the non-national road work but carry approximately 30% of all road traffic. We also have 1,000 km of local roads. If we want to achieve serious bang for our buck, we must introduce a programme of investment to upgrade regional and local roads and connect towns and villages to ensure they are not left behind. This investment will be vital if we are to have a thriving rural economy.

If the objectives of the recently announced rural renewal and survival plan are to be achieved, resources must be provided to do so. If we are to promote tourism, cycling and walking, good quality local roads are needed. People take their lives in their hands going for a walk on many roads. Many regional roads are too narrow for articulated lorries and agricultural machinery and are no longer fit for purpose. On some roads, the level of potholes and broken down and crumbling structure is poor recompense for taxpayers and car owners who pay substantial road tax and find their vehicles are damaged by deficient pavements.

County Westmeath has 307 km of regional roads, while County Longford has 152 km of such roads. Imagine what it would mean for rural development and local tourism if these roads were in top condition. I welcome the funding of €6.8 million and €6.1 million for counties Longford and Westmeath, respectively, announced by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, last week. In particular, I welcome the moneys allocated to help accommodate the Center Parcs project.

It is time to consider how to better use the road network to connect rural areas and revitalise communities. For example, a road rating categorisation attaches to roads and guides their repair level for non-national roads. Ranging from one to ten, a rating of ten is good and indicates only routine maintenance is required. In County Westmeath, the total cost of restoring to a good pavement standard the worst non-national roads, namely, those with a rating of less than five, would be €20 million alone. The cost of restoring all roads to level seven or eight would be a multiple of this figure. The problem is that expenditure on roads is at its lowest level since 1975 and the evidence is there for all to see.

I note the capital plan provides €6 billion for investment in the road network in the period until 2022. It is clear, however, that significant additional expenditure is required. I recognise that significant resource constraints are in place, money cannot be generated confetti-like and we have just emerged from seven or eight years of significant recession. I note the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform yesterday called for applications for meritorious projects across Departments seeking some of the €2.6 billion available to the Minister following a review of capital funding. In that context, the upgrading of the N4, which is known locally as the N4 Mullingar-Longford-Roosky road scheme, is paramount as it is a high value project in the context of regional development.

In 2010, Westmeath and Longford county councils, in partnership with the National Roads Authority, NRA, and subsequently Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, announced the publication of the preferred route corridor for the scheme. The project was to upgrade approximately 52 km of the N4 national primary route between the N4 Dromod-Roosky bypass and the N4 Mullingar bypass. The scheme has been designed to bypass Newtownforbes, Longford, Edgeworthstown, Rathowen and Ballinalack. It is a vital project which was proposed for several reasons, in particular to cope with increased traffic flows, reduce journey times and improve road safety. It was suspended following the selection of the preferred route corridor and the delivery of the route selection report in 2010. Funding was not available to advance the scheme to the compulsory purchase order stage. The estimated cost of carrying out preliminary design and an environmental impact study and complete the compulsory purchase order documentation in readiness for submission to An Bord Pleanála is €4 million spread over three years. As I indicated, the construction of this road scheme would be of significant benefit to counties Westmeath, Longford, Leitrim and Sligo and the entire midlands and north west regions. I appeal to the Minister to provide funding to progress this priority infrastructural project, namely, the €4 million required to allow it to immediately progress.

The N55 from Ballymahon to Carrickboy is another important project in urgent need of funding. Longford County Council initially tried to advance this project with the NRA. More recently, it has been working with Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I had a meeting with representatives of TII on 15 December 2016 and it is acutely aware of the need for funding for this project as the matter was raised by the executive, local authority and Oireachtas Members at this meeting alongside other very important road projects.

Without good road access, investment simply does not take place. Highway access has been determined by a US annual corporate survey, presented to us by IBEC at the united N4 link chambers presentation in December, as being important in 85% of corporations' location decisions. Heavy vehicle use on the single carriageway N4 is higher than on some of our motorways. The typical maximum capacity on a single carriageway road is 11,000 AADT or annual average daily traffic. The AADT for the Longford-Mullingar stretch of single carriageway is currently 14,483 vehicles and is quickly approaching two or three carriageway levels. The Center Parcs project in Ballymahon, an extremely important development for the region, has significant potential to increase daily vehicle usage of the roadway, with up to 2,500 guests coming daily to visit this wonderful facility which will provide 900 jobs.

My local authority, Westmeath County Council, has done tremendous work at executive and local authority membership level in the past decade and a half to advance and drive forward projects such as the development of the N4 eastwards and the westwards development of the M6 motorway. Excellent work is being done on a portion of the N52 arterial route within the county boundaries of Westmeath at Billistown, Cloghan, Dalystown and Clonfad. This is an important route from the north east as far south as Borrisokane and Roscrea in County Tipperary. Enterprise initiatives by Westmeath County Council and ambition have resulted in significant work being done.

Some of this work can be done by direct labour. It is time to remove the shackles of the employment moratorium from local authorities and allow them to employ more staff directly, as they did in the past. They are treated like children in a kindergarten by the Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. More autonomy should be devolved to local authorities to enable them to get important road works completed using their preferred method and employ local labour.

I will speak briefly about the disastrous decision made by the Department to refuse to grant a separate allocation of funding for local improvement schemes or LIS, the most cost effective and efficient schemes. The local improvement schemes have an entirely positive cost-benefit ratio and provide access to people who live and work on the roads in question. This funding must be restored. Using wide boy tactics by allowing local authorities to use up to 50% of their initial discretionary grants for local improvement schemes is a Pontius Pilate act by the Department, which reduces the discretionary budget. The local improvement scheme funding should be allocated directly by the Department to local authorities.

People living in culs-de-sac are entitled to the same the level of service, facilities and access as people living along main routes. They pay tax, rear families, work hard and contribute to their local communities but believe no one cares about their plight as the condition of some culs-de-sac is deplorable to say the least. I appeal to the Minister to devise a special allocation for culs-de-sac to ensure residents of such roadways do not feel left behind or left out altogether. Many of those who live in culs-de-sac give money to local authorities as part of planning conditions. Having done so, they are wiped from the map, so to speak, and the only time they see anyone is when a politician knocks on their door. They used to see postmen the odd time but since An Post erected monstrous green boxes at the entrance to laneways, they no longer see them either.

I have always been a great supporter of community involvement schemes. Westmeath County Council has been extremely enterprising and initiative driven in this regard. Some wonderful realignment work has been carried out following co-operation between local authorities and landowners and home owners, especially in recent years, all of which had a single focus on safety. This has been recognised in Westmeath where the council's engineering staff must be lauded and praised for the drive and enthusiasm they have shown in this respect. The Department should also provide a specific funding stream for this important work. I again compliment the Deputies who tabled the motion.

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