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

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan. He has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design and improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the relevant local authorities. TII delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.

The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national road projects from 2021 to 2030, as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic objectives. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others.

As the greater portion of this funding becomes available in the second half of the decade, this has meant that there is constraint on funding available for new projects in the period to 2025. However, approximately €412 million of Exchequer funding capital was provided to the national roads programme through TII to local authorities in 2024. While there has been no reduction in the overall capital funding available for national roads in 2024 since the allocations were announced, a number of new road projects are facing funding pressures in 2024. This is due to a number of reasons, including the increased pace of delivery, land acquisition costs, inflation and increased costs for materials, which are more expensive than when the estimates were originally calculated.

The major new road projects which face funding pressures include the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge project, which is under construction, and the M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy and Limerick to Foynes, including the Adare bypass, projects, which are approaching the construction phase. A number of projects at an earlier stage in the development cycle are also affected. In order to ensure the continued delivery of these important projects, TII proposed earlier this year to postpone some asset renewal works on the existing network until 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. This is particularly the case where existing contracts are in place. In addition, some greenway funding will be used to advance active travel infrastructure on the national road network, which would otherwise be funded from the roads budget. This will allow funding to be directed to new roads projects. These important projects are in line with the commitment of the Government to invest in new roads infrastructure to ensure all parts of Ireland are connected to one other. They will also assist in removing traffic from our towns and villages, creating more liveable communities.

It is important to note that the postponement of temporary and safety improvement schemes will not be affected by these measures. In fact, the Minister is pleased to advise the House that TII has recently identified funding for a small number of these paused pavement improvement schemes, which were identified as being in particular need of intervention.

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