David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue, as well as the Minister for being here this morning to debate this with me.

When I was elected here for the first time 27 years ago, when I was a lot younger with a lot more hair, the big campaign in east Cork was about opening the railway line to Midleton and I got involved in that campaign. I raised the issue a lot here and I debated it with the then Ministers, Mary O'Rourke and Noel Dempsey, and others. Nearly 15 years ago, on 30 July 2009, it finally opened and it has been a massive success.

The Minister, as he said himself, was in Cork at the weekend and on Monday or perhaps Friday; I cannot remember as things are moving so fast. It was about another enhancement of the rail network. At the time, there was a trade-off between the county council and the Department of Transport, as it was then, with respect to the fact that we needed people to use rail. There was an agreement made to zone a lot of housing along the rail line in Midleton and Carrigtwohill and so forth in order that people would use it and it would have a critical mass. That has now happened.

We have now, for instance, planning permission in Water-rock for 2,500 units. A large town in its own right will be going in there. The problem is the road infrastructure between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. That 5 km infrastructure has not improved. It is very poor and of very low quality. I am worried about the safety side of it more than anything else. I am told that there are up to 30,000 vehicles travelling that road every day at 100 km/h. It is a double dual carriageway. One can imagine trying to get onto that. There are a number of low standard-grade junctions, medium crossings and direct-access points going on to that road. At peak times, it is bumper to bumper with two lanes going at speeds of 100 km/h. We are all extremely concerned there is going to be a major smash someday and people will be killed or whatever. It is only waiting to happen. Everybody I meet down there is talking about it. It is extremely dangerous. I invite the Minister to come down and drive that road at some stage to see exactly what I am talking about. There are places on the carriageway, for instance, where traffic comes from roads on the left and there is no space at all. There are three lanes merging into two and they are all moving extremely quickly. There have been a number of accidents in the past. Pedestrians have been knocked down as well. It is not safe for vulnerable users.

In the past, there were plans by the TII and the county council to upgrade the road between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. Phase 1 feasibility studies were completed in July 2020. Other potential routes were identified and the preferred option was outlaid in July 2021 to September 2021. Way back then, we expected that length of road to be upgraded and to be made safe. It has not happened. We are going to have even more traffic if all these houses go ahead as planned and I know they will. I have looked at some of the planning applications for housing for that area. The experts are saying on those planning applications that the road is already at capacity. The roundabouts are at capacity and the Lake View roundabout in Midleton is at over capacity. It is extraordinarily dangerous. It is a signal and a sign of success for east Cork.

I am sure my colleague, Deputy O'Connor, who has taken the Chair, will agree with me. It is a sign of success. The rail link has been a game-changer. The greenway that recently opened is another game-changer. It is a great place to live, to work and to raise a family but this little bit of infrastructure really needs to be done as soon as possible.

I have no skin in the game. I am out of here after the next election, but I am really concerned. I do not want to be going to funerals in east Cork because of this lack of progress on this road. The Minister should at least try and make it safe. I am not sure how that could be done because the volume of traffic is not going down. We all want more people to use the train - I more than anybody. I use it all the time. However, an increased number of cars, and hopefully electric cars, are still on that road travelling at high speeds and other traffic trying to merge into it. The medians across it are absolutely lethal but they cannot be closed them because that would force more traffic into Carrigtwohill and back into Midleton again. The old Amgen site, one of the best IDA Ireland sites in the country, is sitting there and cannot be used because the road infrastructure has not been upgraded. There are good reasons for the Minister at this stage in the budgetary cycle to get some funding to get this project moving again and I implore him, from the point of view of safety, if nothing else, to get working on this as soon as possible.

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