Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that not every project can get funding, but we are talking about small money to progress this project. The people of Tipperary and its surrounds have been struggling for too long. As I said, there have been 40 years of successive Governments telling them they will get a bypass. This is all for the sake of an additional €2.25 million, a pittance in the current climate. As a public representative, I cannot allow this to continue. Every time I go into Tipperary town, I am faced with it. Likewise, Deputy Cahill will know about the issue, as will Fianna Fáil councillors in the town. For 40 years, the people of Tipperary town have been strung along and told time and again that they will get the bypass. The longer it is delayed and the longer they do not get the money to progress the national roads project, the worse it will be. Given the kind of money we are talking about, surely to God in this day and age progress can be matched between the Cahir-to-Limerick Junction project and that from Cahir to Waterford. Why is there a need for some of the project to be cut but another part of it not to be?

As I said, all the counties - Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny, are behind getting this done. I have travelled through a lot of this country but I cannot think of a town that is as choked up with heavy traffic as Tipperary town. Anybody who has done any travelling and gone through Tipperary town will know how things are there. We are talking about national roads over another ten-year period but this cannot be allowed to continue. I may be cynical, but every time progress seems about to be made on Tipperary town, something happens in this House, such as a vote, and various political groups get funding for their areas and something else in County Tipperary gets cut. I have a question. When a deal was being done recently with the Regional Group to get a vote to pass in the House, was that part of the reason funding for the project in Tipperary is being cut and spent somewhere else? Perhaps I am cynical, but there are a lot of cynical people out there after 40 years of looking at this project being pushed back. A lot of people who were told about it 40 years ago are not around any more. Let us get it moving. As I said, it is small money.

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