Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid the Deputy is asking me for something I am not willing to give him, and I think he knows that. It is something to which I am unable to commit at this stage. While a limited number of road improvement projects were selected for funding in the Building on Recovery capital plan and in the extra capital plan review allocations, the Thurles inner relief road is not included among the projects identified for development in the period to 2021.

Tipperary County Council indicated to the Department a number of years ago that the estimated costs of competing land acquisition, advanced detailed design and the preparation of tender documents for the bridge and road construction stage of the project was in the order of €6.4 million. It is understood that Tipperary County Council has been undertaking some elements of further design work and land acquisition. This is being carried out by the council from its own resources. Tipperary County Council would need to submit an appraisal under the new appraisal process if it wishes to pursue grant funding for the construction of the scheme. In the meantime I must emphasise to the Deputy what I said in the first part of my response, which is very simply that the projects including the national development plan reflect the outcome of TII's decisions, and the Thurles bypass was not one of the schemes included in the NTP on foot of that process.

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