David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At this late hour, I am so tired I am not sure if I can actually debate but I am glad the Minister of State is here. I am disappointed the Minister for Transport could not be here. The Office of the Ceann Comhairle should look at why Ministers cannot come into Topical Issues debates involving their Departments. While the Minister of State will do his best, it is not the same as having the line Minister present. Maybe it has something to do with the late hour. Maybe he is at home tucked in bed. I do not know.

Mallow is a fantastic town in the centre of County Cork. It has been designated as a key town in the regional, spatial and economic strategy for the southern region. The population target for 2028 in the county development plan is 15,351, up from 12,169 in the 2016 census, so it is growing very fast. It is a very nice place to live with outstanding education, sport, health and recreational facilities. It is probably the best served town in Ireland for rail services but traffic congestion is a major problem. Anybody who has been in Mallow at any time during the day will find that. People are stuck in traffic, which really kills the town. This has been recognised for many years. The need for a relief road has been agreed for almost a decade. An Indecon economic study was presented to the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Donohoe, by what was then known as the Mallow Representative Group in mid-2015, which found that a bypass for Mallow would remove heavy traffic from the town centre, enhance its attractiveness, facilitate the revitalisation of the town and would be worth up to €90 million to the town. Subsequently, the Mallow bypass project was included in the Government's capital spending programme for 2016 to 2021 and funding was allocated for a feasibility study and a pre-appraisal plan.

A lot of work has been carried out since. I understand that up to €1.2 million has been expended to date on the relief road plans. I think there were three public consultations. As recently as February, it was expected that an application would be sent to An Bord Pleanála later this year.

Cork County Council had applied to TII for €1.4 million to finalise the work and to bring the scheme to the board.

One can imagine the impact in the town and region when the TII allocations were announced in February and it was realised that only €100,000 was to be made available, and this was to pay for work that was already carried out. In effect, the project has been shelved indefinitely. I am told no further work can be carried out on the project, leaving property owners, the local authority, TII and the people of the town and region in limbo. I understand that the northern committee of Cork County Council has written to the Minister to express its deep disappointment at the decision to issue a section 24 letter which effectively overruled TII’s proposal to fund the Mallow relief road to the amount of €1.4 million. It maintains that the relief road is critical to the future development of Mallow and its environs. I understand that TII wrote a letter to Cork County Council dated 22 March 2023, and has also written to the Department of Transport, to point out that in its view the Mallow relief road is consistent with relevant objectives of national policy and that it has formally requested approval to increase the 2023 allocation for the project.

This is crucial for Mallow itself and for this part of north Cork. Much work has been carried out to date. It has been recognised for almost a decade that this road is needed. It is in the national development plan but with no rhyme or reason it has been stopped and shelved. I invite the Minister of State to come to Mallow some time and try to drive down the main street. Traffic congestion is killing the town. Heavy traffic, trucks and cars that have no business going down the main street have no choice other than to do so until this is done. We all know that if this goes to An Bord Pleanála, it could take a year and a half before the board comes to a decision on it. This has stymied the project and killed the project which is killing the town.

Why was this decision made? Just €1.4 million is required to continue the work that has been done already. One can imagine the frustration of all the officials in TII, the council and so on and the local people in Mallow, who have worked so hard for this, when they learned at the eleventh hour that the plug was pulled with no reason given.

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