Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to talk about the Connecting Ireland document, which aims to connect Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway and to provide an alternative to the M20 and M25 motorways, which the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, believes will cost a fortune and is too expensive.

The Government's vision for Ireland 2040 is to achieve connectivity and balanced regional development. Our regional cities are important. We are told Cork, Limerick and Waterford cities are instrumental to this new vision. The cities need to be connected to achieve economic growth and to access ports and airports. Tipperary County Council, Waterford City & County Council and Kilkenny County Council have made submissions on the upgrading of the N24 to motorway standard as part of the Ireland 2040 vision. Submissions were made by Tipperary County Council on the mid-term review of capital projects and the voluntary Cork-Limerick Alliance Group also made submissions. It is important these people are listened to. We can get to Cahir from Limerick and on to Cork or Dublin with a maximum delay of nine to 12 minutes. It is an investment of €3.8 billion to undertake that development as opposed to €10.3 billion in capital expenditure to do the M25 and the M20 motorways, not to mention the damage and impact on the environment and everything else. It brings negligible travel time differences and transport 2040 goals will be met in a fraction of the time.

There will a greater return on investment on the M8, which is totally underused and was probably at 50% capacity pre-Covid. It will create regional access to the motorway infrastructure and lead to fewer cars on the N20 and N25. Faster port access is vital, considering Brexit and related issues. Connecting the ports of Galway and Foynes and on to Rosslare and Waterford is vital with Brexit.

This document is lovely. I ask the Tánaiste to look at an independent evaluation of the proposal for the M25 to go from Limerick to Cork. We can do it for a fraction of the cost. Cahir is the central crossroads in Munster, certainly, and almost in Ireland. We could have a digital hub for heavy industries and, indeed, all kinds of industry. The town is adjacent to two motorways, namely, the M8 and M24.

We do not want another children's hospital that started out at €600 million, is now almost at €3 billion, is still not built and has had huge delays almost a half-decade later than delivery. This can be delivered. The people, energy, enthusiasm and expertise are out there. They are not all confined to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and the Department. People have good ideas that should be listened to. Connect Limerick to Cahir and on to bypass Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and on to Waterford and Piltown in County Kilkenny, which is a notorious spot that has had several fatalities. Please go back and re-examine this before it is too late and try to develop this link. We will then have connectivity with Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway, which is very important.

See this speech in context