Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I share the Deputy's concern about the long time our planning system takes. We are all agreed on that and the need for that to be assessed and changed. There was an additional €4 million in grant allocations this year to the N71 route for various improvements. There was a further €325,000 allocated to Cork County Council under the specific improvement grant programme to progress the road realignment at Ilen Bridge on the R586.

On the €4 million, I understand the Deputy's desire to see those bypasses be progressed. I have been clear that the prioritisation in our overall road schemes should be on bypasses of towns. However, that is a national question. We have hundreds, almost, of towns right across the country where bypasses are the preferred option. We will have to allocate the resources and TII is going to have to prioritise within the overall NDP allocation it has. Bypasses should come first and the towns mentioned are examples of projects that make sense.

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