Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his very in-depth reply. It is a long way to Tipperary and I hope one of his first visits will be to Tipperary town to note the anguish, trauma, noise and pollution that are experienced daily owing to hundreds of trucks travelling bumper to bumper. The people of Tipperary town are wonderful. Some years ago, 5,000 of them took to the streets with March4Tipp, along with Jobs4Tipp and County Tipperary Chamber.

Tá siad ar fad ag lorg an bóthar nua. We need it. The people need the infrastructure. This is the main thoroughfare from Rosslare Port to the Port of Foynes. As the Minister said, we are going to bypass Bansha, Monard and Limerick Junction in County Tipperary and Oola in County Limerick. It is a vital project.

Before TII was dreamt of or conceived, we in Tipperary had form. We built the Cashel bypass on the footprint of the N8. We linked up afterwards when the funding came along. We have the model and it is a no-brainer to do this section and bypass the town. It is such a necessity.

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