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

I believe the Leas-Cheann Comhairle would agree with me that when it comes to Deputies in the Dáil, Deputy Feighan is one who would be consistently pushing matters at every available angle. For him to bring something to the Dáil Chamber is a signal not just of his intent but of the seriousness of the matters to him and to his local community.

The N17 Knock to Collooney scheme has been identified in the national development plan and TII has been working to progress the scheme through planning, design and construction. I can confirm to the Deputy, however, that €400,000 has been allocated for the Knock to Collooney scheme in 2023. As with all national roads projects in the NDP, the delivery programme for the project will be kept under review. The proposed project, as the Deputy is aware, assists in the delivery of a high-quality road network along the Atlantic corridor. It is vitally important not just for regional accessibility but also for access to Ireland West Airport Knock, as referred to by the Deputy. Through the provision of improved infrastructure, the project will support commercial growth and investment in the area. The proposed project will remove through traffic from a number of towns and villages, which will have positive social and environmental impacts on local residents. Road users will benefit from improved journey time certainty and, in addition, the project provides the opportunity to introduce active transport facilities.

The close-out of option selection reporting is ongoing on this particular project and an emerging preferred transport corridor is expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2023. Additional tasks, including traffic modelling and reporting, are ongoing following a peer review and a project appraisal guidelines audit.

As I indicated to the Deputy in my initial response, I will take this back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan. Moreover, I will encourage him to visit the north west and Sligo with Deputy Feighan to underline how important this project is, not just to the local people but to the entire Government, and how important Deputy Feighan's role is in delivering this for the people of his community and the constituency which he represents.

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