Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Eugene Murphy for the opportunity to address this important and very interesting matter.

As the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding of the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual national road projects is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

Ireland has just under 100,000 km of road in its network and the maintenance and improvement of national, regional and local roads places a substantial financial burden on local authorities and the Exchequer. As a result of the national financial position, there have been very large reductions in Exchequer funding available for roads expenditure over the past number of years. Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter, in the first instance, for TII in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act.

As Minister, I have to work within the capital budgets included in the plan and TII, in turn, must prioritise works on the basis of the funding available to it. TII does allocate funding specifically for safety works based on its analysis of the network. This year, it has allocated approximately €17 million for such works. Under its HD15 programme, safety works are based on an analysis of accident density across the network and those sections of the network with considerably higher than average accident densities are selected for analysis. Sections of road which are amenable to engineering solutions are prioritised for treatment. In addition, TII operates a HD17 programme based on road safety inspection reports. These reports indicate which issues, for example, signing, lining or safety barriers, need to be addressed on different sections of road and programmes are drawn up to deal with the priority issues. It should be noted that good pavements also contribute to road safety and TIl has allocated approximately €50 million for pavements in 2017.

I understand that TII has recently completed a collision cluster analysis on the most recent three years of An Garda Síochána collision data and has identified four sites on the N5 in Roscommon for further examination - two east of Tulsk and two east of Frenchpark. Roscommon County Council will examine these sites over the coming months with a view to identifying whether engineering solutions will improve safety at these locations.

Regarding Scramoge Cross, a preliminary examination of the collision statistics for the N5 at this location does not indicate a collision cluster there. However, it may be the case that the road authority concerned, Roscommon County Council, has more up to date information available that indicates that road safety improvement measures may be warranted. In order for TIl to consider any such proposals fully, the road authority is required to carry out an analysis of the collision history at the location in consultation with the local gardaí. If a collision cluster is identified at the location that could benefit from an engineering solution, the road authority should design an appropriate scheme to deal with the safety issues identified, carry out an economic appraisal of the proposal, fully cost the scheme, prepare a feasibility report on the scheme and prioritise the scheme in regard to other works being proposed at this time by Roscommon County Council. Roscommon County Council is proposing an N5 Ballaghaderreen-Scramoge road improvement scheme which I understand extends from the eastern end of the Ballaghaderreen bypass to Scramoge, a distance of some 33 km. Given the limited funding envelope available under the plan and the primary focus on maintenance and renewal of the network rather than new projects, this scheme is not currently included as part of the plan. TIl has, however, provided an allocation of €700,000 to Roscommon County Council for the scheme this year to enable the planning process to progress. I am aware that Roscommon County Council has recently completed the business case, environmental impact statement and compulsory purchase order documentation for the proposed N5 Ballaghaderreen-Scramoge road project.

All major capital projects are subject to the project appraisal requirements in the public spending code and my Department’s common appraisal framework for transport projects as well as the An Bord Pleanála planning consent process. In this context, a cost-benefit analysis for all schemes costing over €20 million is required as part of the business case for the project. In line with the project appraisal requirements, each cost-benefit analysis needs to assessed by the economic and financial evaluation unit in my Department and then reviewed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The cost-benefit analysis for the Ballaghderreen-Scramoge scheme has been submitted to my Department for evaluation. If the cost-benefit analysis were to be found compliant with project appraisal guidance, a separate decision would be needed on the business case, which takes account of the availability of funding for the project. It is not possible at this point to indicate what the outcome of the project assessment process will be.

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