Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will give 100% support to this Sinn Féin motion. I thank its Members for bringing it forward. The A5 route linking the North and South is a critical piece of infrastructure and a major route for people living and working in the Border counties and across the north west. The A5 route from Aughnacloy to Derry is in urgent need of upgrades to improve safety and reduce fatalities. I heard many stories through my office while other Deputies talked about the fatalities happening on this road. I give sincere sympathies to families who have lost loved ones, probably due to very unsafe roads. This road development project is vital to the economy and people of Donegal and the north west. The current state of the A5 road is concerning, with an increasing number of fatalities in recent years. We cannot ignore the devastating impact these accidents have on families and communities.

We do not want to steer too far away from the topic, but there are severe problems in west Cork where roads are equally dangerous. As I travelled to the House at 6 a.m. on the main thoroughfare from Clonakilty to Bandon, which is a main road where it could be expected that big business would take place, 35 cars were held up behind a cow box. That poor gentleman was going about his business but he held up 35 cars behind him. That will tell you what the road infrastructure in west Cork is like. It is appalling. It is astonishingly bad.

There is €10 billion on the way, so prosperity is on the way when it comes to roads. I will be supporting this critical piece of infrastructure, not just for the greater economy of the areas concerned, but also for the fact that it will help to save lives. That comes above everything else.

There are dangers on our roads. They are outdated and full of potholes, yet little money is being spent on them. Massive money is being spent on footpaths. You could nearly land a helicopter on some of the footpaths but two lorries cannot pass each other on the same road. For the life of me, I cannot understand how any engineers have a job. I can show the Minister of State proof of where two lorries cannot pass each other on new stretches of road. They have to go up on a footpath because the footpaths were extended out onto the roads. It is insane. At the same time, there could be a fine grass margin inside them.

I hope that if money is given to this project, the same mistakes will not be made as are being made on many of the roads in west Cork, where the little money that is being spent is being used to make landing strips of footpaths instead of making roads safe. I sincerely hope the people in the constituency where this crisis has arisen and where there have such unfortunate fatalities will get some ease as they listen tonight and will know there will at least be some way forward after this.

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