Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Feighan for raising this issue. The Deputy will forgive me for saying this is not the first time I have heard him raise this issue although, admittedly, it is the first time I have taken it as a receiving Minister of State in the Dáil Chamber. He is a real champion for his county and for the counties affected by the N17. I have heard him speak many times at our own parliamentary party and I believe he raised it also just in the past week with the Taoiseach.

As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 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, the national planning framework and the NDP.

Approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds have been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2023. These allocations were announced by the Department of Transport and TII on 16 February 2023. The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country, as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects that are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others.

As the greater portion of this funding becomes available in the second half of the decade, this means that there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects this year. Most national road projects in the NDP, however, will continue to be progressed in 2023. A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an Exchequer allocation of circa €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing national roads over the ten-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade.

Due to the outlined funding constraints for national roads in 2023, a prioritisation exercise was necessary. In line with the NDP and Government policy, the Minister for Transport has allocated national road funding for 2023 in a manner which seeks to achieve the following key outcomes: the protection and renewal of the existing national road network; progressing major projects in or near construction; progressing major projects which are pre-construction but well advanced in the development pipeline; and prioritising any remaining funds for major projects that provide for local bypasses and compact growth in Ireland’s towns and villages.

This is in no way to dismiss the importance and need for the upgrade of the N17 referred to by Deputy Feighan and I understand the pressures to deliver this project as soon as possible are real and important. The situation has been laid out clearly by the Deputy as it is at the moment. I will, however, undertake to bring the Deputy's representations back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and I, of course, encourage the Deputy to continue this engagement which he has been doing for a long time both in this House and, indeed, previously in the Upper House, as well as to engage directly with TII.

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