Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I have a specialty in roads as well as everything else. I do understand the value of a secondary national route. I have loads of them around my area, so I totally understand. Deputy Sherlock has been to all the Ministers in respect of this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. As he might be aware, the Minister has responsibility for overall policy and securing Exchequer funding regarding the national roads programme. What Deputy Sherlock is after asking for is €10 million to ensure that the N73 stays on the table and does not get squeezed when the next budgetary decisions are being made. That is what I am hearing.

Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040 and the national planning framework.

I am informed that TIl conducts regular safety analyses of the national road network, which includes the N73 between Mallow and Mitchelstown. Each year, TIl carries out a collision analysis of the entire national road network, in accordance with the requirements for network safety ranking of the EU directive on road infrastructure safety management. The purpose of this analysis is to identify locations of high concentrations of collisions. Having regard to the outcome of the analysis, it is then the responsibility of the relevant local authority, as the road authority for the area and in this case Cork County Council, to devise proposals to identify any appropriate road safety interventions.

In addition to the network safety ranking process, TII periodically carries out road safety inspections on the entire national road network, as provided for in the EU directive. The purpose of these inspections is to verify the characteristics and defects of an operational road for reasons of road safety. This is a proactive measure that is done in tandem with the network safety analysis.

Turning to route upgrades and safety on the N73, the Clogher Cross to Waterdyke realignment scheme is one of two minor improvement schemes being progressed by Cork County Council. The scheme has been progressed through planning and design and the construction tender documents have been prepared to go to tender this year. TIl has approved an allocation of €1.5 million to the council in 2021 to enable this work to progress and the latter recently requested approval from TII to go to tender with the scheme. TII should be in a position to confirm whether the tender process can proceed once funding arrangements for 2022 and 2023 are finalised. I believe that answers the main part of the Deputy's Topical Issue matter.

The Annakisha South road improvement scheme, the second minor scheme on the N73, has also received planning approval and tender documents have been prepared. Unfortunately, the amount of funding available and the number of schemes that can move to construction in any given year are limited. Therefore, future construction of this section of national road will depend on the level of funding available to TII for national roads generally and the relative prioritisation of the scheme when compared with similar schemes nationally. TII has provided an allocation of €300,000 to Cork County Council for the Annakisha South scheme in 2021. Both of these minor schemes will take account of current active travel policy, in accordance with TIl standards, and the council's transport policies.

TII provides annual grant allocations to local authorities for the upkeep and maintenance of national roads. I will convey exactly what the Deputy said on this matter to the Minster. It is clear from the response the Department has provided that a great deal of work has been done on the project and significant investment has gone into it. It looks to be a project that can hit the road.

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