Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. It is a substantial scheme; there is no question about that. The Minister of State can imagine the situation for a resident who, fundamentally, just wanted footpaths and to be able to walk to the shops and to Togher or Ballyphehane. They would have liked progress to be made an awful lot more quickly. As good as the scheme may eventually be, this still impacts their day-to-day quality of life and will continue to do so until it is developed.

I note the response states €950,000 has been allocated. That is a bit different from a parliamentary question I saw on the Dáil website but perhaps it is under two schemes or something like that. It is a bit more than I had realised. I welcome that. It is still only about half of what was allocated in 2022. I am still a bit concerned. I hope that the Minister of State might take back that this is very shovel-ready. If there are other projects under these travel funds throughout the State that are ready to go further, faster, that funding should be reallocated. This project has been waiting long enough.

I note it is potentially holding up access to public transport as well. The bus travels up most of the Lehenaghbeg side of the hill. It is a kind of horseshoe-shaped road. It cannot go past the junction and down Lehenaghmore. The NTA told me in correspondence, referring to the road scheme, that when the scheme is complete, it will be possible to extend bus services to operate along at least part of the L2454, which is the Lehenaghmore side of the road. One option, which the Minister of State discussed, was to include the planned route 4 onto Togher Road, which is broadly the route of the 203 currently. It is something the NTA is actively looking at, which is important to people who currently do not have access to a bus route. A bus cannot currently get past the junction. That is also being held up by this issue. I appreciate the update. I hope it can be progressed soon enough. Will the Minister of State please take on board the point on additional funding?

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