Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not have any issue with those towns the Tánaiste mentioned in counties Cork and Limerick; they need bypasses. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, however, is in favour of smaller ring roads or smaller bypasses, not a huge motorway. The Tánaiste must look at the funding, which is staggering. It is €3.8 billion versus €10.3 billion. That is €3.8 billion to go from Limerick to Cahir and on to Waterford with connectivity back to Cork or Dublin against €10.3 billion to do the Cork-Limerick, and indeed, Cork-Waterford roads. It is a no-brainer with the impact on the environment and so forth. Of course, we have a reasonable rail service that needs to be upgraded. Certainly, however, this must be re-examined in this timely review because if we get connectivity to those cities, the people in those places mentioned by the Tánaiste - Adare and all the other towns - will have less and less traffic because all the heavy trucks will be gone.

Lastly and most importantly, Tipperary town is completely jammed with lorries. We must get the trucks out. There is extra traffic now because they are going to Rosslare instead of Dublin as a result of the issues with Brexit in different ports. Get the lorries out of those towns in order that people can live and breathe and have a nice town like Clonakilty, which we saw featured on a television programme recently. This could be done with a simple ring road, proper planning and by listening to people who have different and good ideas, which have also been also costed.

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