James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's Green Party colleague, the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, has continued to oversee what is nothing short of a farcical situation when it comes to national roads funding, with just 34% of projects having gone to tender under pavement improvement schemes involving road safety and realignment and new national road schemes in this calendar year. We signed off on a capital plan in February 2024, three months later than is normally the case. This has been a continuous issue for the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. What has the Green Party got against roads and the projects we need to progress in rural Ireland to improve road safety, reduce fatalities and deal with the chronic underfunding of road programmes, which has been a huge issue in my constituency? In this regard, I draw attention to the Fermoy, Castlemartyr and Midleton schemes, all of which have been held up because of continuous funding uncertainty. What is the Government, including the Minister, going to do about it?

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