Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will take more if you are offering, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I wish to raise the issue of the N73. The N73 is a national secondary route. At present it could be considered no more than a local road in terms of how it has been treated in investment terms. The route will take you from west of Mallow to Rathmore and on up north, through Mallow and on into Mitchelstown. There is a part of the road, from Clogher Cross to Waterdyke or, as we know it locally, Canteen Cross, and also at Annakisha South where, up to now, for this year alone, through Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, €1.5 million has been spent to bring the process to tender to enable works to be carried out on approximately 3 km of road. I am given to understand that Cork County Council and TII have done all the preparatory work on this. All we are asking for is €10 million to make this road safe. It is currently unsafe. When heavy goods vehicles pass each other on the road, they have to slow down to a stop in order to pass because there are no verges on the road and you have to traverse the white line in order to pass at certain sections on the road if you are driving a heavy goods vehicle. The road is an important road because it is a national secondary road. I cannot emphasise that enough. It has been devoid and starved of investment for decades now.

All we are asking is that the Government not take the foot off the pedal in terms of the next phase of the project. We are fearful that if there is any reprofiling of roads spending - in other words, cutbacks - to rob Peter to pay Paul, we will get caught in the cross hairs in north Cork, between Mallow and Mitchelstown. I am pleading with the Government not to take this off the agenda and to allow it to go to the next stage. In the context of overall national spend on roads, €10 million is but a drop in the ocean. It is a significant amount but it would have an untold benefit for people travelling from Kerry to Dublin, for people who travel from Mallow to Mitchelstown and vice versaand, in particular, for local traffic. That Mallow to Mitchelstown road is a major arterial route for local traffic, local commerce, families bringing children to school and people who travel for medical reasons, including acute medical reasons, for care in Dublin. They would travel from Rathmore on through Mallow and on up to Dublin. There is a part of the road I have just mentioned, from Clogher Cross to Canteen Cross, or Waterdyke, that has to be done. I am imploring the Government not to take it off the agenda. I have been in touch with the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and Transport, Deputies Michael McGrath and Eamon Ryan, and I have had engagement with the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, about this. I am asking that it stay on the agenda.

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