Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In 2018, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, fought hard to get funding for the Ardee bypass. He issued a press release welcoming it. I do not know if the Minister can hear me but I ask him to listen to me as I cannot think of anything more important in my constituency. This is very important for Ardee. The Government has increased its investment in Ardee and the town will grow from a population of 5,000 now to more than 8,000 over the next number of years. Planning permission has been given for hundreds of houses and the town is chockablock, held to ransom every day by hundreds of heavy goods vehicles coming through, which affects the health of the people, delays business and prevents normal commerce and social interaction.

What has happened? It has taken 20 years for a Minister to be successful at the Cabinet table in announcing funding for the Ardee bypass and I welcome the work done by the current Minister. We need his help and support now. Never has Ardee and County Louth needed a Minister more than at this moment. The decision made by the Minister with the Cabinet to make this road "a strategic investment priority" has been overturned by a bureaucrat in Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. He has taken upon himself a decision to stop this road and put the plan into cold storage without reference to the Minister, his Department or the chief executive of Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Yesterday, I heard a rumour that the Ardee bypass plan was being put into cold storage and I got the facts indicating that at the very minimum it would be 2020 before the road plan could proceed. According to TII, "the design of this road is safe and compliant in every respect."

It meets all the requirements and would have been built before now but the money was not there until the Minister, effectively and efficiently, got it for us. It must go ahead and there must be no delay or procrastination.

Some people had real and serious issues at two important intersections. Those were discussed with Louth County Council and the council commissioned this report of which the Minister's Department no doubt has a copy. It is a response to the submissions of the people from Mullanstown and Coole. One of the key reasons for not proceeding with this road was, according to the bureaucrat in question, because of the increased commitment to meeting the needs of vulnerable road users coupled with an increase in walking and cycling, creating different desirable outcomes to be achieved by the design. That raises the question as to exactly how many people cycle and walk on these junctions. This report is very clear on that point. There is a weekly average of 13 two-way pedestrians and 15 two-way cyclists on the junction at Townparks Road and, on the Mullanstown Road, there is a weekly average of 11 two-way pedestrians and 15 two-way cyclists. The sums do not add up at all.

There is an agenda somewhere in Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to take this €34 million away from Ardee and spend it somewhere else and TII confirmed that is what will happen if the Minister does not overrule TII on this matter. This money will not be spent in Ardee. We heard what the Green Party said about this road yesterday and, if there is a general election, this project may never proceed at all. It is important that the Minister uses his power to get the funding for the road and delivers it.

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