Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. From the Deputies present he can see this is a regional issue not just a localised one. I could just talk about the need for Mallow to have a bypass but we have progressed beyond that. As Deputies Niall Collins and Michael Moynihan stated, the motorway is necessary for the economic development of the south west. The only benefit in terms of infrastructural progress the Minister gave to the south west in budget 2017 was the upgrade of the motorway at Naas to get the traffic down to us quicker, but he forgot to provide any traffic infrastructure in the south west. It is important the M20 motorway is progressed.

The reason we have raised the matter with the Minister today is because there is talk, which nobody seems to discourage, that the Department is perhaps using delaying tactics by putting information into the media to the effect that the motorway will go from Cork to Cahir and connect with the proposed M24, Cahir to Limerick road. From economic and time perspectives the proposal is a non-runner. As the crow flies Cork to Limerick is approximately 86 km. Cork to Limerick via Cahir in County Tipperary is 121 km. Why would we add mileage to the journey when motorways are built to help people get from A to B in a quicker time?

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