Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply, which deals in detail with the issues and will, I hope, result in an early date for the project. If I were to ask for one thing to happen, it is that the activation plans be pushed ahead as quickly as possible because time is of the essence. During the downturn in the economy, we did not have traffic problems anywhere but we have them now. We may be the victims of our own success but whatever the reasons, they are positive.

In terms of population, Maynooth is not the biggest town in the country by any stretch of the imagination. However, there are now almost 17,000 students in Maynooth University. We also have two schools off the Moyglare Road, each with a student population of 1,000. We have a number of other schools on the Celbridge Road. We have schools all over and a Gaelcholáiste is promised in the near future. All of that serves to concentrate the traffic in a particular area. The issue can be resolved and the Minister of State referred to the solutions. I thank previous Ministers for their investment in the town, which will stand it in good stead for the population in the future. I hope, however, that we do not have a long, drawn out process, similar to what we had with the N7 and the N9 projects, which went on for years. The area from Kilcock to the M50 has excessive traffic and requires urgent attention, as do the roads in Maynooth to which the Minister of State referred. The solutions are visible but we need them implemented as soon as possible.

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