Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister may be aware that the week before last I tabled a parliamentary question on this issue and received a reply from his Department. The reply stated:

The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority. The Department has not received any proposal from Cork City Council in respect of a proposed upgrade of Tinker's cross junction in Cork city.

I was quite happy with the reply and passed it onto my constituency colleague on the ground who is a member of Cork City Council. He raised it with the city council at the roads meeting last Monday. The reply he received from the city council on this proposed upgrade was that the preliminary design, Part 8 planning, detailed design and construction tender processes are complete, the contractor has been selected and the project awaits funding approval.

The Minister will see that we have two differing answers. Cork City Council states that it is shovel-ready for this €2.5 million upgrade of Tinkers Cross and awaiting funding from the Department while the Department's reply states that it has not received an application from the city council. The reason I therefore gave notice of this topical issue is to see if I can get some answers from the Minister. Will he clarify whether the information I received the week before last is correct?

The Minister may not be familiar with the junction itself but it is right outside a community centre and next to an estate entrance. It is used several times a day by residents from the estate who wish to cross the main road over to the shops and the community facilities. It is an extremely busy junction that is used daily by articulated lorries coming from Tivoli to get to the Blackpool area. The upgrade is vital but the difficulty is that no one seems to know at what stage the project is because we are getting different answers from the Department and Cork City Council.

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