Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. This is a important project for my county and for the region. I hope that the Minister will find it in his heart in the coming weeks, when the TII allocations for 2024 are being granted, to provide adequate funding to progress this project. We are looking forward to seeing the preferred corridor, hopefully in the first quarter of 2024, but progress needs to continue after that.

I asked the Minister earlier - he might update the House on this - about the projected fatality figures that TII has given him. I know TII has given the Minister figures. The Minister might inform the House what those figures are because it is not acceptable that we would ignore a warning from TII and allow people to die on that section of road while it awaits upgrading. It is a highly dangerous section of road, and massively trafficked. It is the main artery into Killarney from the rest of the country, other than the Cork road. It is an important tourism route as well as a commuter route. We cannot stand by and allow this project to take years to come to fruition. It needs to be done as soon as possible. If the will is there, it will happen. Deputy Eamon Ryan is the Minister for Transport and we need him to make sure this project happens.

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