Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am still confused because the Minister of State has said that the projects under TII are being allocated to align with the Government commitment to a 2:1 ratio of funding on new public transport and new roads. She also said that the upgrade is still included in a list of projects to be progressed under the NDP. I am not sure whether it means that project will still go ahead and it did not get funding this year or whether it has just fallen off. Perhaps the Minister of State could ask the Minister for clarity on that.

I fully support the need to have public transport and that is where the focus should be. Unfortunately, we are not seeing that public transport being made available in Wicklow. Locals and commuters are having major problems with the 185 bus in Enniskerry. There are capacity issues and timing issues. They are looking for that to be resolved and it is not being resolved. There are issues like that throughout the county. The Connecting Ireland plan is this great scheme for the entire country. Only €5 million has been allocated for County Wicklow this year. That is not the kind of transformative investment we need in public transport. The DART to Wicklow town has been mooted as if it is a certainty. Again, there is no plan, funding or timeline for that.

Some €3 million has been spent on this road project already and I imagine that several consultant reports have been done on it. I would be interested to know exactly how much has been spent. I know that €250 million has been spent on the metro with no infrastructure to show. I wonder if the N11 will be our equivalent where we pump all this money in and do not see any improvements.

There is a very local issue relating to this as well. Any houses on the route will not be able to get planning and people not be able to sell their properties. We need to find out exactly what is happening with the project. It cannot be allowed to hang around for the next year or two before there is clarity. People need clarity.

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