Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response which shows he is well acquainted with the background to this issue. I congratulate Cork County Council and East Cork Municipal District on the additional works completed in Killeagh and Castlemartyr and the planned improvements between Fermoy and Mallow. The Minister referred to national routes. That is the crux of the issue. As I said, Cork County Council has tried very hard to secure funding for its plans. I accept that moneys are limited and that the Minister has no direct remit when it comes to regional roads. However, some 40% of the traffic passing through County Cork travels this road and thereby encounters the largest chicane of a bottleneck one could ever expect to see. That tonnage is mostly coming from the Whitegate oil refinery, but there is also commuter traffic from the ESB power station, Trabolgan holiday centre and all of the towns and villages that feed into the route. Given these circumstances, will the Minister ensure this project which would alleviate a great deal of hardship for commuters in the area is prioritised? It is on the N25 national route, which is part of the difficulty. Being a regional route, it is the responsibility of Cork County Council and East Cork Municipal District which do not have the funding required to implement the proposal, but it is attached to the national route which is within the remit of TII. If the Minister cannot give me an answer today, I will be happy to follow up with him later. This might seem like a minor issue, but it affects thousands of commuters day in and day out.

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