Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in relation to the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, 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 has 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. Among the new national roads projects listed in the NDP is the proposed N20-M20 Cork to Limerick scheme, which would bypass Charleville. Some €5 million was allocated for this project in 2023. As with all national roads projects in the NDP, the delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for 2024 and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to TII. 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.

Each year, TII carries out a collision analysis of the entire national road network. The purpose of this exercise is to identify locations that have high concentrations of collisions. It does not however include the subsequent process to devise proposals to identify road safety interventions; this is the responsibility of the relevant local authority, as the road authority for the area in the first instance. With regards to safety issues in Charleville, a high collision location was identified through the network safety analysis in 2019. This was forwarded to Cork County Council for its consideration. TII has worked closely with Cork County Council through the N20 Charleville safety working group which commenced in June 2023. Through this group the council expedited the preparation of a design proposal and the delivery of a feasibility and options report. A safety scheme that addresses many of the safety issues was developed by a multidisciplinary design team within Cork County Council. TII currently awaits submission of the feasibility and options report from the council requesting the funding required to deliver the road safety improvement scheme. Submission of the feasibility and options report is necessary for the council to request funding for a road safety improvement scheme. TII is aware that Cork County Council is considering improvements at two other locations in Charleville, at the New Line junction and at the filling station at the southern end. TII is committed to working with the council to see what safety measures can be identified in the short term to improve safety in the town.

Going back to how the Deputy presented the question, it is very clear that there are three stages to this. The response I have from the Department indicates that it is vital that Cork County Council submits its feasibility and options report so that TII can assist it.

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